Then Came the Night
by Unstable Firestarter
Summary: Drama, love, death, betrayal, all spurred into motion by two catalysts-the arrival of a newly engaged couple, and a pair of hunters. The former catching the eye of the city's reigning vampire master, the later determined to eradicate everything non-human. Various pairings. Xigbar/Demyx, Axel/Riku, mainly.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter One**

Bright teal eyes gazed into the bottom of the glass as he swirled the contents around, the ice clinking faintly against the sides. As the question directed to him was repeated, he didn't look up, instead searching the depths of his Jack Daniels as if the amber liquid held the answer he needed to supply. He was disrupted from further musing though when a hand touched his thigh, steadily moving upward, and he tried not to tense visibly. No matter how many times this happened, some occasions he just didn't appreciate being felt up by random strangers-especially drunk ones.

_He's handsome, at least._ The blonde thought idly, his drink still in one hand as he turned his head to look over at the young man seated next to him at the bar. Deep brown soulful eyes gazed back at him, set into an attractive face and topped by feather soft raven hair. _He's so totally smashed though._

"Well?" the question was repeated yet again as he leaned closer to the blonde, "What do you say?"

He considered this carefully, downing the rest of his drink before setting the glass on the bar counter. He wrinkled his nose at the sharp smell of alcohol on the other man's breath, trying to ignore the hand that was now hovering at the top of his thigh. He knew they couldn't stay here; this dingy, smoke filled bar was far too public for what his drunken acquaintance had in mind.

"Alright," the blonde finally responded, looking over with a sultry smile, "That sounds great."

"I knew you'd agree," brown eyes said with a pleased, drunken smirk, his hand sliding home before giving a firm squeeze.

_Alright, that's enough of that._ The blonde rose to his feet, managing to evade the groping hand. Fishing in one pocket for his wallet so he could pay for their drinks, he tried to ignore the heat of arousal that was now spreading across his skin. _Just as soon as I get home, and not before then._

"Say, wha's your name?" brown eyes thought to ask as they began to leave the bar together.

"Demyx," the blonde replied readily.

He didn't bother to return the question though; the name of his companion wasn't high on his list of concerns.

Brown eyes, on the other hand, had plenty of things he should be worrying about-he just didn't know it yet. As it was, the poor fool thought he was going to get lucky with the blonde. Oh, someone was going to be lucky, but it wasn't him. Quite the contrary; he was about to have a very bad night.

Demyx behaved himself for as long as he could, waiting impatiently for the two of them to be far enough away from highly populated areas before acting. Fidgeting a bit, he ran his tongue over his teeth, feeling his canines growing a bit longer, a bit sharper. His self control wouldn't last much longer-he was _hungry_ dammit, and technically he was eating for two. His little fledgling wasn't old enough or skilled enough to get his own food yet.

He stole another glance over at brown eyes. The man smelled distinctly of alcohol, but beneath that there was another scent, sweet and intoxicating. It was that scent in particular that was driving him crazy, and then, as they entered a poorly lit alley-a short cut, he was assured in slurred words-his self control fully crumbled.

After ensuring that there was no one else around, Demyx turned towards his companion, fisting his hands in the front of the other man's jacket. With ease, the blonde pushed him backwards, maneuvering them into a darkly shadowed doorway, even holding him up with no trouble at all when the drunk lost his balance. As soon as brown eyes' back was against the hidden door, Demyx's mouth was on his neck, kissing and licking.

"You're a feisty one," the other young man groaned, surprised but pleasantly so, and snaked his arms around the blonde's waist, pulling him close.

"You have no idea," Demyx said with a quiet chuckle.

He couldn't wait any longer, he had to eat, and he had to eat _now._ Closing his mouth over the side his victim-to-be's neck, he bit down slowly. He nearly groaned aloud when his fangs pierced through the skin, and brown eyes _did_ groan, the quiet sound escaping his lips with no sign that he knew anything was wrong. His bite wouldn't cause much pain, anyway; unlike some of his kind, he had been gifted with a very…pleasurable bite.

Blood slowly began to well up from the twin puncture wounds, and Demyx sucked deeply on them, drawing the liquid out faster. With the very first taste of the man's blood-metallic, coppery, and to him very sweet-every other thought was driven from his mind. A low growl issued from deep within his throat, and, impatient, he bit down on the wound again to make the blood flow more. His victim still wasn't aware that something was wrong-and probably never would, with how drunk he was coupled with Demyx's pleasant bite.

He leaned closer to the drunken man, pressing his body against him, and continued to feed, never once pausing. The blonde was utterly consumed by this one action, only vaguely aware of the faint, breathy sounds brown eyes was making, or the way his arms were slowly slipping away from Demyx's waist to fall back to his sides. He was only fully aware of his surroundings again when there was no more blood, and he'd drained the man dry. Releasing the still warm body, the blonde took a step back, delicately licking his lips to take care of any crimson that remained there.

He felt full-very full-and lazy now, as well as…. He giggled a bit to himself when he realized that he was somewhat buzzed-not entirely drunk, but not sober either.

"That's what you get for picking up dinner in a bar," he said aloud, running one hand back through his dirty blonde hair.

His hunt successful, it was time for him to head home now, before his fledgling grew too impatient-as he was sure the boy was hungry. Demyx hummed a pleasant tune to himself as he stepped out of the shadows in the alley, making his way through the city until he reached the apartment building he lived in, and now shared with the little one he had sired. Well…he supposed it wasn't entirely right to refer to him as 'little'-his fledgling was eighteen after all, only three years younger than Demyx himself. In physical age, anyway-for actual years difference, it was closer to five.

Walking down the hall towards his apartment, once he'd gotten up to the proper floor, he wrestled his keys out of a pocket, having a bit of trouble due to how snugly his jeans fit. He had been correct to think that his roommate would be impatient; he'd barely managed to close the door behind him before a petite form had tackled him. The sudden weight caused him to stumble hard, nearly losing his balance and going down-not only did it catch him off guard, but it seemed being buzzed tampered with his inner equilibrium.

"Hey, hey, give me a chance to get through the door, little bird!" Demyx chided lightly, placing a hand over one of the arms wrapped around his shoulders.

"I can't help it," the brunette replied, a slight whine in his voice that the other found adorable, "I missed you, and I'm hungry. You were gone so long."

"I wasn't gone_ that_ long," Demyx protested, trying to free himself from the vice-like grip the boy had him in. "Come on, Sora, I've gotta move; let me walk at least."

"I'm hungry," Sora said again, and though the blonde couldn't see it, he didn't have to, to be able to imagine the puppy dog pout that the boy probably had.

"Then let me move," the young man said with a slight giggle, trying to turn and once more pry himself away from the fledgling.

He was unsuccessful, though, and ended up losing his balance, falling to the floor. He grunted a bit as his back hit the ground, blinking through the darkness while Sora scrambled around to sit on top of him, straddling his hips. Demyx started to ask just what the boy was doing, but it became apparent a moment later when the brunette leaned down, ravaging the side of his sire's neck with desperate kisses. The blonde's half formed question turned into a low moan, and he tilted his head back, his eyes slipping shut.

Sora continued his assault on Demyx's neck; tongue running over his skin, and when he nipped lightly, his fangs were already elongated. He rested his hands on the blonde's shoulders to help hold himself up, hesitated a second, and then he was biting Demyx, teeth sinking into his soft neck. Unfortunately, Sora was too young yet to have developed a pleasant bite like his sire-though he most likely would-and for now, it was painful.

Demyx winced at the pain, a soft whimper escaping his throat, but by now he had grown used to this, and he was equally addicted to the painful bites as he was the pleasant ones. He lifted his arms to wrap around Sora's thin shoulders, one hand clenching in his hair as the boy began to drink his blood that welled from the wounds he'd inflicted. The blonde's breath came in shallow gasps, lost in the sensations that accompanied the action, and squirmed a bit as his previous arousal returned, stronger than before.

"Sora," he whined, his fist tightening in the boy's hair, "Ngh."

The brunette was _hungry_, just as Demyx had been earlier, and he continued to feed as his sire clung to him, whimpering the boy's name. This was what the blonde had been waiting for all evening-well, part of what he'd been waiting for, anyway-and he was definitely enjoying it. Vampires didn't make a habit of letting others of their kind bite them-there were issues of trust, comfort, things like that, as well as how the general society saw it. Taking all of that into consideration, the bond he shared with his fledgling was quite intimate.

Sora was enjoying this too, finally able to feed his hunger, to quench his thirst. Not to mention the fact that he was addicted to the taste of Demyx's blood. Of course, his sire _was_ the only person he'd ever fed off of so far, being too young to hunt yet. His appetite was startling for someone so small, and after a few more moments, the blonde squirmed again, lightly pulling upward on Sora's hair.

"Sora, that's…that's enough," Demyx gasped out, again trying to pull the brunette off of him without hurting him.

The boy made a soft sound of protest, but finally managed to draw away, licking his lips to catch any stray drops of blood. His blue eyes were bright, almost feverishly so, and his cheeks were flushed from the fresh blood. He looked so…beautiful and seductive right now, and Demyx groaned, pulling the brunette down to kiss him.

"I want you, Sora," he whimpered against the boy's lips, "I need you."

"Dem-" Sora started, then squeaked as the blonde rolled over, reversing their positions, "Dem-ow!"

His head had bashed into a leg of the end table that was set against the wall. Of course, that was actually part of the living room, but neither of them had paid any attention to exactly where they'd ended up after Demyx had fallen.

"Sorry," the blonde said, unable to stop a small giggle-he was still buzzed from his earlier meal.

Getting to his feet, he pulled the brunette up with him. The bedroom was too far away, and Demyx was too impatient, so they were lucky that they even made it to the couch. Leaning over Sora, he kissed the boy again, reaching blindly for the buttons on his vest. His lack of patience showed again when he accidentally ripped one of the buttons off, and Sora pulled back from the kiss enough to be able to speak.

"Hey! I like these clothes-and I'd like for them to stay intact," he complained. He'd seen Demyx get impatient like this on occasions before, and knew that his clothes were in danger-especially considering the blonde's inhuman strength.

"Then get them off, quickly," Demyx purred, nuzzling the side of Sora's neck.

He couldn't bite, he had to keep telling himself that-he'd never bitten Sora after the initial time, and he had to keep holding himself back. He simply didn't want to risk undoing his fledgling's feeding, so if he _was_ going to bite, he had to be sure he didn't break the skin-he just had to manage to keep his fangs in.

Clothes were finally shed, Sora somehow managing to keep his intact-and Demyx's as well-and the blonde wasted no time, the heat of desire enveloping him too much to make him wait any longer. This was the other part of what he'd been waiting all evening for, and he was even more enraptured now than he had been earlier with feeding-Sora and before that with brown eyes-this was so much different, so much more intense. It was all consuming, drawing in every thought, every action.

He had always been a passionate person, before pouring it into his music and his band, when he'd been a musician. Now it showed in his every motion and touch. He had one hand tangled in Sora's hair, his face buried against the side of the boy's neck-so far holding on to his self control to not bite, though it was growing increasingly difficult. Each rock of his hips drew the most delicious noises of pleasure from the brunette, and Demyx drank them in like he wished he could drink Sora's blood. He held out for as long as he could, but then when the end came, he ended up biting down hard on the boy's shoulder-luckily keeping his fangs withdrawn-and the sound of Sora's cry of mingled pain and pleasure rang in his ears.

Afterwards as they lay together, Sora snuggled up in Demyx's arms, the blonde felt himself on the verge of nodding off, even though there were a few hours left before sunrise. It was no surprise though, really, taking into consideration that he wasn't used to this sort of thing happening nearly every night. Sure, he would hunt, and feed, and often spend time with his own sire, but he wasn't used to taking care of his fledgling yet. Sora was only a few weeks old, after all, and Demyx was still adjusting to this new routine.

Lifting his head a bit to see the brunette better, Demyx started to speak, until he saw that Sora was already asleep. "Sleep well," he murmured with a soft smile, kissing the boy on the cheek. Laying his head down again, he let his teal eyes slip shut, and stopped fighting off the urge to slumber.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N:** Thank you for the reviews! ^^

* * *

**Chapter Two**

A loud knocking sound from somewhere close by caused a stirring within the apartment. The stirring was brief though, and ceased after a few moments. It was only when the knocking transitioned into an impatient banging that teal eyes struggled to open. He could see sunlight seeping in around the edges of the black-out curtains that were over the windows, and knew it was far too early for him to be awake. Maybe if he just ignored it, and hoped really hard, the noise would cease. Unfortunately, he had no such luck; the longer the banging went on, the louder it got, and he was sure that before long one of his neighbors would complain-middle of the day or not.

"Fuuuck," he groaned, fighting to untangle himself from Sora, since they were both on the couch still where they'd fallen asleep the previous night, "This had better be damned important." He didn't make a habit of cursing, normally, but right now was a special case.

The brunette whimpered as Demyx sat up, protesting against the action, and he ruffled the boy's hair, "Just someone at the door," he muttered tiredly.

Even with his acute hearing, the blonde couldn't pick up whatever Sora murmured in response, and rose to his feet, his legs somewhat wobbly. He didn't make it even halfway to the door though before he was stopped by Sora.

"Demyx!" the boy called, his voice thick with sleep, "Dem, wait!"

"Hmm?" Demyx turned back to him, teal eyes barely remaining open.

"You can't answer the door like that," Sora muttered, somehow managing to blindly find the blonde's pants and throw them, "Put on some pants at least."

The young man blinked as he caught the item of clothing, not even realizing what'd he almost done-wouldn't_ that_ have been a surprise for whoever was at the door. Speaking of them, the banging was continuing, piercing through his sensitive ears, and he scowled as he struggled to pull on his pants.

"Alright already!" he snarled irritably at the door, "Chill out, I'm coming."

Finally decent, he made his way over, unlocked the door, and wrenched it open, somehow managing to not rip it off its hinges as he didn't pay attention to his strength. "What the hell is so important?" he demanded of the person standing on the other side.

"Jesus, Demyx, are you deaf?" the young man grumbled in return, clearly perturbed, "I've only been standing out here for nearly ten minutes."

Demyx squinted, trying to focus his burning eyes. It took him a moment to recognize his unexpected visitor, for the slate blue hair and more vibrant blue eyes-though he could only see one due to said hair falling over half of the young man's face-to make sense. Then, all at once, the blonde realized who this was.

"It's the middle of the day, Zexi," Demyx grumbled, a whine edging into his voice as he slouched against the door frame, fighting back a yawn to be able to continue speaking, "What do you want?"

"He wants to see you," the other sighed, his sullen expression showing that he disliked having been given this task.

That got the blonde's attention, but there was still the issue of the fact that it was in the middle of the day. "Right now?" he asked.

"Yes, right now," Zexion said, suppressing the urge to roll his eyes-he had little patience when it came to Demyx's whining.

"But it's so _early_," Demyx complained, slouching more and crossing his arms over his bare chest, "What's wrong with waiting until tonight?"

The other young man turned his eyes skyward, as if asking why this had to happen to him. "He specifically said now."

"But I'm tiiiired," the blonde whined, his eyes nearly falling all the way shut as he struggled to stay awake.

"Demyx," Zexion snapped, "He asked to see you _now_, and you are going to see him _now_. I will drag you out of here conscious or not if I have to." He wasn't the type to raise his voice when he got upset. Quite the opposite; when he was upset, his voice grew quiet and silken, and that was the exact tone he had now.

Demyx blinked at his words, heaving a sigh. "Fiiiine," he relented with a pout, "But I'm not walking all that way in the sun, it's too far."

"I'll give you a ride," the other said, "Just get dressed."

"Alright," the blonde agreed, stepping back into his apartment. Ducking his head back to look at Sora-still curled up on the couch, sleeping, naked-he then turned back to Zexion. "Wait here a minute," he said.

Closing the door again, Demyx gave another long yawn and shuffled back to the couch. Stooping to pick up his shirt from last night, he shrugged into the skin tight garment, smoothing the dark blue, silken material into place. He headed briefly into the bedroom to get a hoodie from the closet-just like Zexion, who wore one himself, he didn't feel like being fully exposed to the sun, even though it didn't really hurt them. Sliding his arms into the long sleeves, the blonde flipped the hood up over his messy hair before zipping up the jacket.

Returning to the living room, he slipped into his shoes, and then turned to the couch. Pulling down the throw that was draped over the back, he settled it over Sora, covering the brunette, and stooped to kiss his forehead. The boy stirred as Demyx started to move away, giggling softly, and the blonde turned back for a moment, his expression puzzled.

"What's funny?" he asked.

"Just imagining you," Sora said, half opening one eye to gaze at the young man, "Answering the door naked."

Demyx had to admit to himself that it _would_ have been pretty amusing-mortifying, but amusing-and couldn't help but giggle a bit himself about that. "Just go back to sleep, little bird," he said, "I'll be back later."

"Alright," the boy yawned.

With that, the blonde slipped from the apartment, locking the door behind him. He shot a mildly displeased look to Zexion before grumbling again, "I still say it's too early though."

The other young man sighed, pulling his hood up before leading the way down the hall. "You're a bitch when you're tired, Demyx," he stated bluntly.

The blonde pouted in response, "It's the middle of the day, what do you expect?"

"Do you see me complaining about it?"

"No. But you're weird-I have no idea how you can be so awake during the day."

A warning look was shot over to the blonde at that comment, and he fell silent. They exited the building without further conversation, Demyx only speaking again when they were in the other's silver '67 corvette.

"I'm goin' back to sleep," the blonde mumbled, pulling on a pair of dark sunglasses that he kept in Zexion's car and clicking the seatbelt into place before leaning the side of his head against the window, "Wake me up when we get there."

Zexion wasn't about to argue with that-if Demyx was asleep, he very well couldn't bitch and moan about how early it was, or that the sun was too bright. He'd be able to drive in silence without any distractions from his blonde companion. _But so help me god, if he starts snoring, he_ will _be walking the rest of the way_.

* * *

The door he was leaning on abruptly opened, and he would have fallen out of the car if he hadn't been buckled in. He made no effort to open his eyes though, just mumbled tiredly, trying to get comfortable again. Someone undid his seatbelt, lifting him from the car, and he was cradled close against a warm body.

"Just a little longer, Zexi," the blonde sighed, shifting a bit, "Still tired."

A low, warm chuckle greeted him in response. "I'm not Zexion, kid," a familiar voice said.

Demyx managed to pry his eyes open at the sound, taking in the handsome face, long black hair with silver streaks, and the sole golden eye. "Xiggy," he cooed happily, lifting his arms to wrap them around the older man's neck.

Whoever said that vampires were cold to the touch was wrong, because the blonde's sire was the warmest person he knew. Besides, if they really _were _cold, it would be harder to blend in with the humans.

Demyx had met Xigbar nearly two years earlier and even that long ago the older man had been considered a high ranking vampire. His age had something to do with it, the blonde was aware, but on exact years, he wasn't sure; whenever he asked, he always got a vague answer. His sire only _appeared_ to be thirty-something—another vague answer that Demyx always received—but he was actually much older than that. Besides age, Xigbar had a _reputation_-the kind that made others of their kind think twice about crossing him.

"Zexion said you were tired," Xigbar said.

"Mhmm," Demyx murmured, his eyes slipping shut again as he rested his head against his sire's shoulder, "I don't know how you and Zexi do it-" he was interrupted by a yawn "-so awake in the day."

He wasn't even paying attention to where he was being carried-it didn't really matter much to him right now. However, he managed to open his eyes enough again to notice the room they were entering. He was feeling less tired than before, assuming then that it must be closer to sundown, and blinked a few times, trying to wake himself up more as the older man carried him to the black couch that was nestled against one wall. When he sat down, he kept Demyx close, settling the blonde on his lap.

"So," the young man started with another yawn, stretching his legs out across the couch, but paused when Xigbar reached up to pull the sunglasses from the blonde's face-he hadn't even realized he was still wearing them.

"There we go," his sire said, setting the glasses aside on the table next to the couch, "Now, what were you sayin'?"

"Uhm…" Demyx started, blinking a few times. He was easily distracted while he was tired, and the simple bit with the sunglasses was just enough to temporarily disrupt his train of thought. "Oh! Yeah, so, why'd you wanna see me so early?"

"I wanted to catch you before you went out tonight," Xigbar said, pulling back Demyx's hood to run a hand through the messy blonde mullet. "Rare to see you without your hair perfect."

The younger man rolled his eyes, "Zexion was really impatient," he said, "I was lucky he let me get dressed, even."

"Not that I would have minded the alternative," the other said, his suggestive smirk making Demyx duck his head and giggle a bit.

"So what was the important reason to see me now, before tonight?" Demyx said, changing the subject back to the point of his being here before sundown.

"About that," Xigbar said, becoming serious again, "I want you to be extra careful for a while; careful with where you feed, and who you pick up."

"Why?" the blonde asked with a bewildered frown, not yet worried because he didn't understand why he had to be careful.

"There've been some disappearances recently. Our kind."

"What?" teal eyes widen in surprise, trying to make sense of what he's being told.

"Could be a hunter, or a crusnik," his sire added, "So keep an eye out."

"Alright," Demyx said with a small nod, absorbing this information, "I'll be careful."

A crusnik…or a hunter…he wasn't sure which idea appealed less to him. Crusniks were both frowned upon and feared due to their cannibalistic nature-another reason that it wasn't common for vampires to bit others of their kind; there was the risk they would grow too addicted, and become crusniks themselves. They were monsters among monsters, despicable for the fact that they attacked and drained their own kind without mercy. Hunters were just as dangerous; powerful, skilled, and with no compassion for the night dwellers-hated for how they took it upon themselves to attempt to wipe out the complete vampiric race. In one way though, crusniks were worse; upon sight, one could not tell a regular vampire from their cannibalistic cousins until it was too late.

"Good," Xigbar said with a smile.

He tangled a hand tightly in Demyx's hair at the back of his head, pulling the blonde firmly to him for a kiss. Demyx purred against his lover's lips as he drew back, perfectly content here now, though he was still a bit tired. Xigbar's actions weren't always the most gentle-he treated Demyx well, but not as though he was fragile, which the blonde wasn't-but Demyx didn't mind. That was simply the way the man was, and the blonde would never ask him to change; he loved Xigbar just the way he was.

Demyx gave a wide yawn, dropping his head back to his sire's shoulder. "Can I take a nap now?" he asked.

"You just woke up," Xigbar reminded the blonde with a low chuckle.

The younger pouted, putting his charming good looks to use, "But I'm not used to being up in the day," he whimpered, "I'll need my strength for the night."

"Alright, alright," the other said with a smile.

There was no resisting when Demyx got that look-well, there was…but the results were never pleasant. If ever he was denied anything-sleep, sex, blood-he would mope and pout until someone remedied the situation. And heaven forbid it if he got on the older man's nerves-things would get even worse.

"Sleep then," Xigbar said, "I'll see you at sundown."

"Thanks, Xiggy," the blonde purred, and he was out again nearly as soon as his eyes were closed.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N:** Thank you for the review ^^

* * *

**Chapter Three**

The blonde lazily scanned the club as he stood at the bar, leaning his elbows back on the counter. He'd stopped by home long enough to get changed, fix his hair, and check in with Sora. Now, here he was, dressed in a pair of dark blue jeans that were a size too small, a black skin tight t-shirt that accentuated his toned form, boots, and black rubber bracelets around both wrists. He was on the hunt, having selected a club this night rather than a bar in hopes of acquiring a less drunk meal this time.

Things seemed to be going well; there was a certain brunette woman on the dance floor who kept looking his way, making eye contact every now and then. In a few minutes, he would approach her, dance, chat, and if things went as planned, she would be dinner. It had been a while since he'd had a meal of the female variety-their blood was sweeter, but they were harder to get alone. Men, on the other hand, were confident in themselves; sure that nothing was going to happen to them. That was always their undoing though.

Speaking of men and their undoing, Demyx had a clear view of the entrance to the club, and the most striking man-at least, he thought it was a man-had just walked in. The brunette woman was completely forgotten about as Demyx took in the appearance of the newcomer. Silken hair fell to just past his shoulders like liquid silver, and he possessed aqua blue eyes set into a somewhat pale but attractive face.

_Very attractive._ Demyx thought to himself as his gaze then moved to this new arrival's attire. A black, long sleeved mesh shirt that clung tightly to his well defined chest, and ended just a few inches above the top of his jeans, leaving a small gap of uncovered skin. A pair of faded, slightly ripped blue jeans that hugged his body in all the right places, and a pair of studded black leather boots.

He was tall, possibly around three to four inches taller than Demyx's modest 5'7", his age seemed to be somewhere around twenty, and there was something about the way he moved, the way he carried himself, that had the blonde feeling a little heated. As his critical gaze skimmed over the stranger once more, Demyx found himself subconsciously licking his lips. With continued inspection, he suddenly realized that the object of his attention was walking straight towards him. _No, not towards me._ He corrected himself a second later, quickly looking away. _Just towards the bar in general. Did he catch me staring?_

Another glance towards aqua eyes confirmed that, yes, indeed, the other man had caught him staring-he was looking towards Demyx as he took a seat near the end of the bar. Quickly looking away again, the blonde tried to remember what he'd been doing before aqua eyes had come in to the club. Oh, that's right; that brunette woman he'd been scooping out as a possible meal. He looked back to the crowd of dancing, writhing bodies, and realized that he'd lost sight of her. Though, given who'd just walked in the door, Demyx didn't think that was too big of a loss.

Taking a deep breath, he pushed himself away from the bar, turning, and strode down to the end, keeping his gaze level and steady. He used the few brief moments he had before reaching his prey to run over a few lines. He was nervous, he realized-he never got nervous. He did this sort of thing pretty much every single night-and he was good at it-so what made approaching this one guy any different from the number of others he'd chatted up over the months? Every single one of them had ended up under his fangs sooner or later, after all.

"Is this seat taken?" he asked, pitching his voice just loud enough to be heard over the music that was blaring through the club's speakers.

Aqua eyes looked at him, gave him a casual once over, and then gestured to the unoccupied stool next to him. "Be my guest," he said.

Even the mere sound of his voice sent a shiver down Demyx's spine.

"Thanks," the blonde said, sitting down. _Now…how to broach conversation with this lovely creature. _However, he wasn't left wondering for very long.

"So what is it about me that first attracted your attention?"

Demyx blinked at the forwardness of the question, caught off guard for the first time he could remember in many, many weeks. "Excuse me?" he asked, his tone remaining casual.

"You were staring at me, when I walked in," aqua eyes reminded him, seeming mildly amused by his reaction.

His amusement spurred Demyx to regain his composure-it was unlike him to flounder when conversing with a future meal. Though maybe if this guy's personality didn't ruin his looks, Demyx might end up with another fledgling.

"Well you _are_ handsome," the blonde replied coolly.

The other young man seemed to appreciate his straightforward answer, and chuckled quietly-the sound warm and delicious to the blonde. "A good, honest answer," he said.

When he met Demyx's gaze, the blonde found himself transfixed by those beautiful eyes, unable to look away until the bartender strolled over to them.

"What'll it be, boys?" the burly, older man asked.

"A Jack Daniels for me," Demyx replied, finally able to tear his gaze away, and feeling somewhat empty when he did, "On the rocks."

"One for me, as well," aqua eyes added.

"Comin' right up," the bartender said with a nod.

Demyx gazed down at the bar counter for a moment, planning out what he was going to do next. Most important would be to find out if this guy was straight or gay or what, because if he was straight, the blonde was pretty much wasting his time here, and he'd have to find a meal elsewhere. There was always the chance he'd luck out of course-like with brown eyes the other night. He'd been quite firmly gay, and once drunk had been no match for Demyx's smooth words. The blonde himself was bi-he'd never thought much of it before, but now it was definitely in his favor in that it didn't matter to him who he seduced and lured away to meet his fangs.

"So, no date tonight?" Demyx asked, picking his words carefully as he set about this task.

The other shook his head, "It happens."

"Girlfriend having a ladies night?" the blonde prodded carefully, maneuvering things closer to his goal.

Aqua eyes half smiled, shaking his head a bit, "I don't have a girlfriend."

"A boyfriend, then?" Demyx tried, keeping his tone lightly teasing.

"Maybe," the other replied with a quick grin.

The blonde felt his heart soar, and he couldn't help but smirk in return. Luck was on his side yet again, and more likely than not he would be ending up with a very sexy meal tonight.

"So, this boyfriend…where is he?" Demyx inquired as the bartender returned with their drinks, setting them down on the counter in front of the two.

"Not here," aqua eyes responded simply, picking up his glass to take a sip.

The blonde raised a brow at the way the other young man said it, "In the mood for company then?" he asked, fiddling with his own drink.

"I haven't chased you away yet, have I?" the other pointed out, an amused look in his eyes.

"True," Demyx said with a quiet laugh.

A few moments passed in silence, each of them seemingly assessing their situation. Then, aqua eyes downed the rest of his drink, rising to his feet. Demyx raised a brow as the other man held out a hand to him-well, this was new. Usually it was he who made the first move, not his prey. He had a feeling this was going to be interesting, and finished the rest of his drink in one swallow. Standing, he placed his hand in the other's, meeting his gaze and smirking slightly before allowing himself to be led towards the exit.

"So, where're we going?" Demyx asked as he was pulled from the club.

However, all he received in response was a cryptic, "You'll see."

The blonde obediently followed along, not questioning when they ended up in the alley behind the club. He'd thought that this guy seemed classier than that, but he was hungry, so he wasn't about to complain. In fact, he decided that it was his turn to take the initiative now, and when aqua eyes turned back to him, the blonde took a chance. Demyx moved closer to the other, backing him up against the wall, and tilted his head up to kiss the man. There was just enough height difference between them for the blonde's liking-this guy was about Xigbar's height, he realized.

A soft groan escaped his throat when their lips met-so soft and warm-and to his delight, he wasn't pushed away for his bold actions. Instead, he was pulled closer, and promptly tangled his fingers in the other's silver hair-it was as silken smooth to the touch as he'd imagined it would be. He pressed closer, leaning against aqua eyes' chest, and tilted his head to deepen the kiss.

Really, he was trying to be patient, but it was hard with how _delicious_ this guy smelled, and how _good_ his lips felt. Feeling his fangs starting to elongate, Demyx broke the kiss, moving his mouth to the other young man's neck.

That, however, was when it happened.

There was suddenly a sharp pain in his side, as if a rib had been broken-which wasn't the easiest thing to do considering that he was a vampire-and he found it hard to breathe for a moment. As he gasped in surprise, stumbling back, he realized that he'd been kneed in the side.

"You're so predictable," aqua eyes said, all traces of flirtatiousness fading from his demeanor.

Demyx frowned in confusion, putting a hand over his aching side. Something was wrong, he realized now as he watched the other man moving away, reaching for something out of sight, very wrong. He'd made a mistake.

"Ones like you make my job so easy," the other said, lifting something from the other side of the garbage cans and turning.

Demyx's eyes widened when he saw that it was a crossbow, and took a step back. "What are you talking about?" he asked, going for playing it innocent.

"You know what I'm talking about," aqua eyes said, leveling the weapon at the blonde.

"Hey, just take it easy," Demyx said nervously, slowly backing away.

A hunter! His prey was a goddamn vampire hunter!

"I didn't do anything to anyone," he added, raising his hands defensively, "No need to do anything rash."

"Just _suck it up_, vampire," the other young man said with a slight roll of his eyes.

_Shit._ Without wasting any more time, Demyx turned and fled. It may be cowardly to run, but he wasn't a fighter, so staying would surely mean death. He made it as far as the end of the alley before he was hit, stumbling and crying out as a crossbow bolt pierced through the back of his shoulder. Whimpering in pain, he paused long enough to look towards the hunter, who was starting after him now, and reached a hand back to the bolt.

Grimacing, he broke the end of the shaft off just above the skin, throwing the piece to the ground, and took off running again. Demyx could hear the hunter's footsteps hastening after him, and he fought back the pain to move faster. He had to get away, he just had to. This was exactly what Xigbar had warned him about-why couldn't he have been more careful?

They were out on the main road now, and he was heading off towards a crosswalk-maybe he could lose his pursuer with all the people. Another glance back informed him that the hunter was close behind-damn he was fast. The blonde looked ahead again just as he stepped from the curb, and he was startled by the sudden sound of screeching tires. A car skidded to a stop just in front of him, and he stumbled forward, his palms slamming against the hood as he caught himself. A silver car, a corvette, the driver was familiar-apparently luck was still somewhat on his side.

He didn't bother to ask, he just yanked open the passenger side door and dropped into the seat with a grimace. "Drive, Zexi, hurry," he said, pulling the door shut again and squirming so that he wasn't resting any weight on his injured shoulder.

"Demyx, what the hell is going on?" the blue haired young man demanded, alarmed by the fact that the blonde was bleeding.

"Just drive!" Demyx snapped, putting a hand over his shoulder, "There's a goddamn hunter!"

Unbelieving, Zexion ducked his head a bit to see out the window around Demyx-and immediately saw the hunter in question, racing towards them with crossbow in hand.

"Shit," he cursed, and he did indeed drive.

He was somewhat distracted though by the blonde's whimpering as he writhed on the seat, drawing his knees up and resting his head against the window, and finally glanced over.

"You're bleeding all over my car," Zexion grumbled accusingly.

The other young man just shook his head, holding out a trembling hand. "Your phone," he said, "I need to call him."

Without protest, Zexion freed a hand from the wheel to reach into one pocket, pulling out his cell phone, and gave it to Demyx.

Hands still shaking and spotted with blood, the blonde flipped the phone open, hitting speed-dial two, and then raised the small, sleek device to his ear. There was a small pause, during which the other paid attention to his driving, working on figuring out where he was going to take them.

"Xiggy," Demyx whimpered, wincing as he shifted again, "It's a hunter-" he paused, biting his lip "…a vampire hunter! The disappearances." Another pause, leaving Zexion to wonder just how the blonde's sire was reacting to this, since he could only hear one half of the conversation. "Because one attacked me…" Demyx was whimpering again now, biting his lip. "I know, I know, you told me to be careful, but I-I just didn't think, I'm so-" he winced now, yanking the phone away from his ear, and even Zexion could hear the shouting issuing through the speaker piece.

The blonde looked about ready to cry, and slowly eased the phone back to his ear, "I'm sorry…" he said with a sniffle. "Y-yeah…I guess I'm okay…" a pause, and he shifted again, turning his back towards Zexion a bit. "He shot me in the shoulder…nothing too serious…" when he shifted again, the other could see that perhaps what he was telling Xigbar wasn't completely the truth; the reason Demyx was still bleeding was because the tip of the crossbow bolt was still buried in his shoulder, preventing him from healing.

"His name?" he grimaced, still battling with his pain, "I didn't get his name…it wasn't exactly high on my To Do list…" a moment of silence, and then he nodded "Yeah…silver hair…blue eyes, or maybe green-couldn't miss him." He shifted again, his shoulder obviously bothering him quite a bit, "Yeah…we'll be there soon. Love you too." With that, he snapped the phone shut, dropping it on the seat next to him.

Quite abruptly then, Zexion pulled off the main road, braking to a stop, and put the car in park. "Turn," he commanded the blonde, unbuckling his seat belt and twisting around to sit sideways.

"What?" Demyx said, clearly confused and not understanding what was being asked of him.

"You're not going to stop fucking bleeding all over my car until that bolt is out of your shoulder," the other said, unzipping his jacket to shrug out of it, "You're not going to heal until it's out."

"O-oh," the blonde said, trembling a bit as he turned in the seat, putting his back towards Zexion. He wasn't really looking forward to what was going to happen, so he tried to distract himself by thinking of something other than the pain in his shoulder and how it was going to get worse for a few minutes. "I should've known something was wrong," he groaned, gripping the edge of the seat, "He was handsome, charming, shared my taste in alcohol-I should've known it was too good to be true."

While he talked, Zexion somehow managed to get a halfway decent grip on what remained of the arrow in Demyx's shoulder, and without warning ripped it out.

"OW! _Fuck_, ow!" the blonde yelped at the unexpected action, pain searing through his shoulder.

"Here," Zexion said, taking his previously discarded jacket and pressing it against Demyx's wound to help staunch the bleeding.

"Thanks, Zexi," Demyx whimpered, holding the material in place as he shifted around to sit somewhat proper again, eyes slightly watery from the pain.

"Anything so you'll stop ruining my leather seats," the blue haired young man grumbled, throwing the broken arrow out the window before buckling himself in again.

The blonde pouted. "You know, listening to you talk, no one would ever guess that we're best friends," he said quietly.

Zexion sighed, shifting the car into gear and beginning to drive again. "…How's your shoulder?" he asked.

"It hurts, but I think it'll be okay," Demyx said with a sniffle, "Thank you for asking."

The other suppressed the urge to roll his eyes and comment, _'anything to make you shut up'_, instead just focusing on driving. If he didn't get the blonde safely to Xigbar, after all, there would be hell to pay.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N:** Thank you for the wonderful reviews ^^ Xigbar's quite fun to write for this fic, though in the future he has moments that make me dislike him, things always work out well with him and Dem. Oh god, the flirtatious conversation with Riku, that was so hard to write in parts, and other times it flowed, but I'm glad it came out well ^^

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**Chapter Four**

The blonde _looked_ like he was in bad shape as he made his way down the long hall that connected the private parking garage to the house, Zexion trailing along at his side, even though it really wasn't quite so bad. The back of Demyx's shirt was soaked with blood, one arm and both hands spotted and stained with it, while actually his shoulder had nearly completely healed. After ensuring that the blonde made it okay though, Zexion turned and quickly left, no doubt to return to whatever he'd been doing before running into Demyx.

There was still a slight twinge of pain whenever he'd move his arm a certain way, but that pain was forgotten about when he pushed open the double doors to what could be considered the main living room of the mansion. Within this room was a sole figure, and the blonde's eyes lit up upon spotting him, quickening his step. Within a few seconds, he'd thrown his arms around Xigbar's neck, burying his face against the older man's chest.

His embrace was immediately returned, and for a moment, neither of them spoke. Demyx whimpered softly, snuggling against his sire's warm body, taking comfort in his presence, knowing that he was finally safe.

"You look like hell." Xigbar was the first to break the silence.

"I'm fine," the blonde murmured, "The wound's already healed-Zexi took care of it."

"I _told_ you to be careful," Xigbar sighed, repeating what he'd said earlier on the phone.

"I know you did," Demyx whimpered, "And I'm sorry."

The older man firmly gripped the back of his neck, pulling Demyx back enough to look down at him. "What matters is that you're alright. And that you'll be more careful in the future."

"Mhmm," the blonde said, nodding as much as he was able to at the moment.

"Good," his sire said simply, leaning down a bit to kiss him. "Now, you didn' get to eat, did you?"

"No," Demyx shook his head. He certainly didn't have a chance to tonight, not with all the commotion that had happened-he was lucky he was still alive, even.

"In that case, I have a surprise for you," Xigbar said, "Go on into the other room."

"A surprise?" the blonde repeated, his eyes lighting up again, and he once more threw his arms around the older man, "You're the best."

There was a low chuckle and ruffling of his hair in response to his reaction, "Go on, kid."

Quickly, Demyx drew away, making a beeline for the previously mentioned room. He turned down the adjoining hall, and silently opened the nearest door. The bedroom within was dimly lit, fairly sparse and yet warm in appearance all the same. What promptly caught his attention though was the young woman sleeping peacefully on the bed. The way she was dressed suggested that earlier in the evening she'd been out in a club, and-coincidentally?-she had long chestnut brown hair.

Dismissing this quirk-however interesting, as it reminded him of the brunette who'd been eyeing him before he'd gotten attacked-he slipped into the room, closing the door just as silently again after himself. This was quite a surprise indeed, the perfect thing for a hungry vampire whose hunt had failed tonight, and he felt his fangs growing already as he licked his lips.

The blonde made his way over to the bed, carefully sitting down on the edge beside the woman, and leaned over her, hands on either side of her slim shoulders. She didn't stir, and he continued his actions, lifting a hand to brush her soft hair away from her neck. She shifted slightly at his touch, but showed no real signs of awakening, and he leaned closer, placing a kiss just below her ear.

When he felt he could continue again without awakening her, he did so, slowly biting down on the side of her neck. His fangs pierced through her skin, and he groaned softly at the taste of her blood as it welled into his mouth. He swallowed, beginning to suck on the wounds he'd inflicted, and leaned closer, hands pinning her shoulders down now even though he doubted she would try to fight him off even if she _did_ fully awaken.

Already he was becoming lost in the act of feeding, eyes slipping shut as his world narrowed down to solely include the beauty whose blood he was drinking. The taste was so _good_, tinged slightly with alcohol, but undeniably sweet, and he growled softly. She shifted again beneath him, a soft, breathy sound escaping her lips, but there was no discomfort in the sound-and why should there be, after all?

All too soon her pulse was growing weaker, and her blood pumped more slowly through her veins, until at last he had devoured every drop. Sitting up, he delicately licked his lips, feeling much better now that he was full. Even his shoulder had ceased to ache, however slight it had been before. Standing, he stretched his arms over his head, working a few kinks out of his back, and then looked down at himself, wrinkling his nose.

He _was_ a mess, splattered in blood like he was. Tilting his head, he decided that he'd take a quick shower to remedy that, and began to shed his clothes on the way to the joined bathroom. He peeled his shirt off over his head, wincing a bit when it stuck to his skin in places from the blood, and tossed it aside absently. Next came his boots, tugged off without too much trouble and dropped nearly in the doorway to the bathroom.

He kept his pants on for now though as he sauntered over to the shower, pulling open the frosted glass door to turn on the water. While he let that heat up, he pulled a towel out from under the cabinet so he wouldn't have to worry about getting it later when he was all wet. When the water temperature met his satisfaction, he undid his pants, dropping them to the floor without much care as well before stepping into the shower.

Closing the glass door behind him, he stepped under the warm stream of water, closing his eyes as he tilted his head back. The water felt good cascading over his skin, relaxing his tense muscles and washing away the crimson spatters of blood. He ran his hands back through his hair, fingers massaging against his scalp. Turning, he let the water hit his back, washing away the blood from the back of his shoulder as well.

He wasn't exactly sure how long he spent in the shower, but when he emerged he felt lazy and relaxed-well…and a bit more than that. Leisurely drying himself off, he ran the towel briefly over his wet hair a few times before wrapping it around his hips, tucking it into place so that it would stay. He didn't bother to get dressed again-his clothes were stained by blood anyway-and merely left the bathroom as he was.

When he entered the spacious living room again, he found Xigbar lounging on the couch, though he shifted to sit up a bit more at the sight of Demyx. The blonde made his way over to the couch, draping his arms around his sire's neck before being pulled down onto his lap. With a soft purr, Demyx leaned closer to kiss the older man, teal eyes slipping shut.

With one arm around Demyx's waist, Xigbar tangled his other hand in the blonde's wet hair, keeping him close. Breaking the kiss, Demyx moved his mouth to his lover's neck, lightly nipping. He wasn't particularly hungry any more, but he _was_ addicted to the taste of his sire's blood, and in his current state, his fangs were practically _itching_ to sink into Xigbar's neck.

He nipped again, a bit harder this time, and the action was rewarded with a low growl-though he knew by now that this one was a pleased sound. He took this to mean that he was allowed to bite, and as his sire's warm hands skated across his bare back, the blonde slowly, carefully, bit down on Xigbar's neck. From the moment his blood flowed into Demyx's mouth, the younger vampire was lost in the hot, rich taste, and he gave a low purr, clinging tighter to his sire.

However, he apparently forgot-for a moment-the affects of his bite, as he was slightly surprised when he suddenly found himself on his back on the couch-his fangs not yet leaving Xigbar's neck. Eventually he _was_ forced to pull away though, somewhere between losing his towel, and his sire shedding what little bit he wore. Demyx quickly lost himself again in what followed, dropping his head back against the couch, his eyes falling shut. He gasped at the searing kisses placed to his neck, every rock of his lover's hips drawing a moan from his throat.

His actions were a bit rough, but tender and oh so passionate. Exactly as the blonde had come to expect after all this time, had come to crave and love, and he arched his back, hands clenching at Xigbar's shoulders. Demyx could practically _feel_ the restraint in Xigbar's kisses, and knew that he was trying not to bite. Even though the blonde wouldn't mind if he _did_ get bitten, just as he hadn't minded that night almost two years ago-though that time had been a near fatal mistake.

Inevitably, the bite did come, Xigbar's fangs sinking into the younger vampire's neck. Demyx gasped at this-his sire was one of the few who could control whether it was a pleasant or painful bite, and right now it was _very_ pleasant. Louder sounds were coaxed from the blonde now in his sweet, melodious voice as the older man drank his blood and Demyx reveled in the sensation. He tilted his head further back as he drew in ragged breaths, his trembling fingers curling tightly against Xigbar's back.

Though they hadn't spoken a word since he'd emerged from the shower, they didn't have to-they could communicate just fine without speaking. There was a bond of unbreakable trust between them, and the blonde found that when you so wholly trusted in someone, you could give yourself entirely to them, and that brought things to an entirely new level. They were approaching the limit now, and when the end _did_ come, he cried out, his voice pure ecstasy and melody, like the voice of a siren.

"I love you," he whispered later, once he had caught his breath again, nuzzling his cheek affectionately against his lover's shoulder.

"I love you, too." And Xigbar tangled a hand in the blonde's damp hair, pulling him close for a kiss.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N:** Thank you for the reviews! About Xigbar-or whoever the second person involved in such a scene would be-that's…actually something I'd forgotten about, but I'll try to remember that from now on. Thank you~

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**Chapter Five**

He'd already eaten well tonight, so his reason for returning to the club to loiter a bit longer? Sheer boredom. And the fact that it was just too early to return home yet. The blonde took another sip of his Jack Daniels as his teal eyes lazily scanned over the occupants of the club, leaning his elbows back against the bar counter. It had been nearly a full week since his run-in with the hunter, and he'd since been much more careful. He'd taken to hunting across town for now, and was much more careful in who he selected to be dinner.

Because honestly, as handsome as that guy had been, Demyx did _not_ want to end up on the pointy end of a crossbow bolt again-or worse.

As he was scanning the club again, he caught a flash of bright red from one corner, and swung his gaze back in that direction. Long red, spiky hair, the kind that defied gravity and you just _knew_ had to be gelled or something. This was coupled with bright, aqua green eyes, fair skin, and twin tattoos under his eyes. This young man, somewhere in his early twenties, was handsome, Demyx thought, and was so intrigued with the redhead's appearance, that his gaze traveled to his attire.

Black boots, ripped black jeans, and a black sleeveless shirt that clung tightly to his chest, displaying every toned muscle. Black finger gloves covered his arms up to his elbows, and he wore a black and red sleeveless jacket over his shirt, buckled in place along the front.

The blonde raised a brow as he eyed up this peculiar stranger, actually taking enough time to consider things. From this distance, he didn't get any dangerous vibes from the redhead-he seemed just like any other guy, and so Demyx decided that it would be safe enough to approach him. Downing the rest of his drink, he set the empty glass on the counter, and started to make his way across the club.

He weaved his way through the dancing crowd, his eyes never once leaving the spot of red that was his goal. As he drew close enough, the redhead looked up from his beer that was resting on the tabletop, turning a curious gaze to Demyx. The blonde flashed a smile as he paused before the table, placing a hand on his hip.

"Is this seat taken?" he asked, gesturing with his other hand to the empty chair across from the redhead.

"Not at all," Red replied with a smirk, sitting up a bit straighter.

Nodding in thanks, Demyx sat down, leaning forward to rest his elbows on the table.

"Here I was thinking that I'd be spending the whole evening alone, and along comes you," the redhead said.

Oh, Demyx didn't even have to _ask_ if this guy was interested in him-it was made clear by the way the redhead was eyeing him up.

"Well, I'm glad I could brighten your night," the blonde said, a flirtatious smirk curving his lips.

"Mm, you most definitely have," Red purred, taking a sip of his beer.

"So how is someone so charming, single?" Demyx inquired, making an assumption as he rested his chin on his hands.

"I'm not," the other young man said with a slight chuckle, "He's just…not around."

Now, this little coincidence probably should have set off at least a small warning bell for the blonde, but he made no connection between this comment and the one he'd received nearly a week ago.

"Oh?" Demyx said with a slightly raised brow, "Sounds like his lose is my gain, tonight."

"Sure would seem that way," Red grinned. "I'm Axel, by the way," he added, extending a hand.

"Axel," the blonde repeated, trying out the sound of that, and shook his hand, "It's a pleasure to meet you. I'm Demyx."

"It certainly is," Axel said with a purr, leaning forward in his chair a bit more, "What do you say we go some…place……quiet…."

As the end of his sentence trailed off, Demyx noticed his gaze shift to a point behind him, and watched as some of the color drained from his face. At that moment, the blonde also had the feeling that there was someone standing behind him.

"Eheh, hi, Riku," the redhead said with a weak smile.

Demyx twisted about to see who he was talking to, and felt his blood run cold. _Shit._ He had just enough time to register silver hair and aqua blue eyes before he was dealt a punch to his face that sent him toppling off his chair to sprawl on the floor. Blinking in confusion and pain, he lifted a hand over his nose as he pushed himself up on one elbow, warily watching the silver haired hunter he'd initially encountered nearly a week ago.

Attention was already off of the vampire though, and there was the distinct sound of the metal legs scraping against the floor as Axel quickly pushed his chair back, rising to his feet. He held up his hands in defense, taking a step back as the other hunter advanced towards him.

"Now, come on Ri, you know I wasn't serious," the redhead said with a nervous smile that in itself seemed to say 'please don't hurt me'.

He ended up suffering a swift punch to the face as well, though it seemed to hold less force than the one that had knocked Demyx down to the floor.

"_Idiot_," the other accused, "Not only do I catch you hitting on another guy, but a _vampire_."

While they spoke, the blonde carefully got to his feet, watching them with slightly wide eyes. Would he be lucky enough to be able to slip off while they were arguing?

"Well, how the fuck was I supposed to know that?" Axel demanded, dropping his hands to his sides.

He was shot a dark look that quickly made him correct himself.

"Okay, okay, so maybe I did know, but-"

"-You'd better have, with that 'infallible talent' you're always bragging about."

"-Then you know I wasn't serious," the redhead continued as if he hadn't even been interrupted.

Quickly, Demyx started to move backwards, heading for the exit that he knew from memory was some distance behind him. Hopefully he would make it while they were both distracted still.

Luck was not on his side though, as aqua blue eyes were abruptly turned in his direction. "He's getting away," he said simply.

At that, Demyx spun about, dashing for the exit to the club now-oh, this was not his night…_again_.

"I'll get him," Axel said with a bit of a sigh, running a hand through his spiky locks. "I'll see you later," he added with a smirk, stepping closer to kiss his lover.

That was the last of the conversation that Demyx heard or saw because it was then that he reached the doors, pushing them open and stumbling out into the night beyond. A few people making their way down the sidewalk scattered a bit in surprise at his sudden appearance, but he didn't bother to offer any apologies, just picked a direction and took off running down the street.

At least he was in good shape, used to running-and not injured this time-though with his luck, his pursuer would be faster.

Some part of his mind was still reeling from the fact that there were _two_ hunters-a pair, a couple. This made even worse news for those who dwelled in the night, but at least he knew what they both looked like-and their names. Speaking of-a glance behind him informed him that the redhead he'd thought was so harmless was in swift pursuit. Thanking his lucky stars for vampire speed, Demyx merely ran faster, turning another corner to a new street, hoping to lose the hunter.

There were more people up ahead, and he continued to run that way, suddenly realizing that there was a good place to hide out for a while around here-if only he could reach it without being followed. Darting into the crowds of people, he glanced behind him again to make sure he'd temporarily lost sight of the hunter, and then turned down a side alley. He made his way past a number of doors before yanking one open and slipping inside, pausing there for just a moment to catch his breath.

He was in one of the back hallways of _The Palace_-a very rich club, you know, the kind with exotic dancers as the main entertainment. As he leaned against the door, composing himself again, one of the large, burly security guards gazed at him with a slightly raised eyebrow-but they were all used to his sudden entrances. He used the back door to this place more than the proper entrance after all.

"Evening, Lou," the blonde said, flashing a smile as he straightened, "Everything going well?"

"Just fine," the security guard replied.

"Good to hear," Demyx said, starting down the hall, "Listen, if a pissed off guy with gravity defying red hair comes through here looking for me, you never saw me."

"Sure thing, Demyx," Lou said with a nod.

"Thanks," the blonde said, waving a hand as he continued on his way.

He passed by the various dressing rooms that lined the hall, absently reading off the names on them until he reached the one he was looking for-_The Nymph_. Pushing the door open, he started inside just in time to collide with someone, nearly knocking the petite blonde woman off her feet.

"Watch where you're going, would you?" she snarled, glaring up at him.

"Yeah, nice to see you too, Lar-Lar," Demyx said with a playful roll of his eyes, slipping past her into the room beyond.

"Demyx, what the fuck are you doing here?" the vampire woman demanded, closing the door again and turning to face him.

He shrugged, flopping down on the black velvet loveseat that was against one wall and propping his head up on one hand. "Ran into some trouble-a couple of hunters-so I'm hiding out here for a while," he replied.

He looked over to her as she absorbed this information, abruptly reminded of the time he'd once been told that they looked like siblings. Personally, he didn't see any resemblance between them; she was shorter than him, her skin more fair, but just as flawless. She possessed wide, brilliant green eyes set into a delicate face, and short blonde hair that reached down to just above the back of her neck and was as golden as the sun. He'd once asked her about the two bits of hair that looked like antennae, back when they'd first met about a year ago, and had promptly found himself in a headlock while she growled about manners and why _everyone_ had to ask that question.

She was a dancer here at _The Palace_, one of the most popular girls, in fact, and Demyx could tell by the way she was dressed that she was in between shows. She wore a lacy black bra under a long sleeve black mesh shirt, a studded choker encircling her neck and black bracelets on each wrist. There was also a pair of skimpy black shorts, fishnet stockings, and elegant black heels.

"_Hunters?_" she repeated, breaking him free from his thoughts, "So you came _here?_"

"Oh, chill out Lar-Lar," he chided her, absently waving a hand, "How many times have I caused you trouble?"

"I can think of a few occasions," Larxene shot back, crossing her arms over her chest.

He faltered for a moment, "Oh yeah, like when?" he countered.

"The incident with the werewolf," she said flatly.

She didn't need to elaborate any more than that-he cringed at the mere mention of it. "Well…I gue-"

"And what about the time with the seriously pissed off witch?" she interrupted, raising a brow.

Another cringe. "Hey, it wasn't my fault she got the wrong impression!" he protested.

The blonde woman rolled her eyes, "And now _hunters?_ Honestly, Demyx, how the fuck do you get yourself into so much trouble?"

The older vampire pouted, turning his gaze to the floor. It was bad enough to get bitched at in general, but to be bitched at by _Larxene_, with her sweet, girly voice, was even worse.

"I'm just popular, I guess," he replied at last with a shrug, smirking when she sighed in frustration.

"How long do you plan on making me suffer with your company?" she asked, abruptly changing the subject.

"Just until I feel the coast is clear," he replied, "Don't worry, I'll try not to take up too much of your precious time, Lar-Lar."

Larxene ground her teeth at the third use of that hideous nickname. "What have I told you about calling me that?" she snapped.

"Why, what're you going to do to me?" Demyx asked with a wide grin befitting the cat that ate the canary, stretching his arms lazily over his head.

She ground her teeth again. "Damn golden boy," she muttered under her breath as she turned away to stride towards the rack of clothes in the corner, "Filthy blood and sex whore."

Of course he heard every word she said, and he shook his head a bit, looking up at the ceiling. "There are worse kinds of _whores_," he pointed out, sounding indignant, "At least I don't sell myself."

No sooner had he said the words than she was striding back over to him, her hand leaving a stinging imprint across his face when she slapped him. "Don't you dare," she hissed, "I'm not a damned _hooker_."

He blinked a moment, raising a hand to cover his cheek, and yet still he had a reply for her. "Are you sure about that?"

Larxene moved to slap him again, but this time he shot out a hand to grab her wrist, preventing the blow from happening. Keeping a hold on her arm, he shifted about to sit up, dropping his feet to the floor, and then stood so that he was looking down at her and not the other way around.

"If that nickname bothers you so much, I'll do my best to refrain from using it," Demyx said pleasantly, not wanting to end up fighting with the woman.

She glared at him for a moment, narrowing her eyes, and then pulled away from his grasp. "Thank you," she said icily, returning to what she'd been doing before.

"Sure thing," he said, flopping back down onto the loveseat and closing his eyes, "…Lar-Lar."

She froze with one hand on a clothes hanger, grinding her teeth together as she tried to do her best to refrain from killing him. _It was going to be a long night…_


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter Six**

He'd managed to escape again later from _The Palace_ without being maimed by Larxene, or encountering the dynamic duo again, and so had decided it was time to call it a night. Running a hand back through his gelled blonde hair, he counted off the numbers as he walked down the hallway. _401…403…405…407…ah, there we go, 409._ Stopping in front of the proper number, he fished his keys out of one pocket, having slight difficulty due to how tight fitting his jeans were. Winning out over the denim though, he freed the keys and unlocked the door.

Stepping through, he looked around the apartment-he was late again tonight, and he was half expecting his fledgling to pounce on him. Soon, Sora would be old enough to hunt on his own, but not yet-Demyx didn't want to take a chance of something happening to the boy. He managed to close and lock the door again without incident, and dropped his keys on the kitchen counter when he passed by, moving to the living room. Ah, there Sora was; curled up on the couch, watching the blonde's every move.

"You're late again," he said accusingly with a small pout.

"Yeah, I know," Demyx said as he dropped onto the couch next to the brunette, "I ran into some trouble and couldn't make it home any sooner."

"Everything alright?" Sora asked with a slight frown, a small edge of worry in his voice.

"Yeah, everything's just fine," the blonde said reassuringly, reaching out a hand to ruffle Sora's hair.

"That's good," the boy said with a nod, uncurling from where he sat, shifting closer to Demyx, "…I'm hungry."

"I figured you were," the older vampire said, smiling a bit, "Go ahead."

Sora didn't need to be told twice, as he shifted over more to sit on the blonde's lap, facing him. He placed hungry kisses to his sire's neck, and Demyx leaned his head back against the couch, closing his eyes. When the brunette nipped his neck, Demyx could feel his fangs against his skin, and tilted his head to the side for his fledgling. Without much more of a wait, Sora sank his fangs into the blonde's neck, biting down. Demyx winced a bit at the pain, but he really didn't mind it-addicted, after all.

As the brunette began to drink, Demyx wrapped his arms around him, hands pressing against the boy's back to draw him closer. Sora gave a quiet purr, fingers tangling firmly in his sire's hair, holding his head in place, and continued to hungrily swallow Demyx's blood. The blonde, of course, was more than willing to allow this, his breath already coming in short gasps.

He winced a bit when Sora inadvertently tugged on his hair, but just pulled his fledgling closer. Though he would be glad-and proud-of the day Sora could get his own food, Demyx would also miss this nightly event. He was already growing used to it, expecting it. Oh well, maybe he'd just have to visit Xigbar a lot more when that day came.

This time, this feeding, Sora pulled away on his own, without needing to be cautioned by Demyx, and he took this as a good sign-another step towards Sora's maturity as a vampire. The blonde groaned lightly as his fledgling licked over the wounds he'd inflicted, catching any and all stray droplets of blood. Abruptly, Demyx rose to his feet, arms wrapped tightly around the brunette's waist. His sudden action caused Sora to squeak in surprise, clinging to his shoulders, but the surprise soon faded when he saw the lust in Demyx's eyes. Maybe they'd actually make it to the bedroom this time.

* * *

Such a slow night.

He'd relocated hunting grounds yet again after his run-in with the pair of hunters, and he wasn't having much luck here. The blonde had temporarily given up, now sitting at the bar staring into the depths of his Jack Daniels. He seemed to end up like this a lot, he realized-just gazing into a drink. Well, he certainly didn't want to make it a hobby of his, that was for sure.

He shifted his gaze to the side as someone sat down next to him, enough to see the profile of a tall man with long blue hair. There was a presence about him, at once noticeable to Demyx, and he turned his head further, taking in the golden eyes and peculiar X shaped scar. The man caught him staring, but didn't seem bothered in the least.

"Slow night," he commented, restating Demyx's earlier thoughts.

"Yeah," the blonde agreed, looking back down at his drink, "Tell me about it."

"It's been hard to even get a bite to eat lately," the man said, "With those hunters making everyone's lives difficult."

Demyx looked up abruptly at that, swinging his gaze back over. His surprised expression was met by a sly grin that exposed fangs, and at once, he relaxed. "I know what you mean," he nodded, "They've been after me twice already-they're damned serious."

"You're still here though," the other vampire pointed out.

"Shear luck, both times," the blonde responded, turning in his seat to face the rest of the club as the talked, "Otherwise I wouldn't be."

Golden Eyes nodded silently, ordering a drink when the bartender wandered over.

Demyx was quiet for a moment, turning things over in his mind. At last he looked back over to the other vampire. "I just have to ask," he said, "But how'd you get that scar?"

Golden Eyes smirked a bit, not seeming bothered by the question, instead as if he'd been expecting it. There was a moment of thoughtful silence, ad then he replied. "A hunter, a few years back, very talented with blades. Tried to take my head off, and I ended up with this as a result," he raised one long, slender finger to tap the marks.

The blonde winced empathetically, nodding a bit. "Hunters have a knack for shit like that," he said, "I'm Demyx, by the way." And he held out a hand.

"Saïx," the other vampire replied, shaking his hand.

Demyx was about to speak again when a brunette suddenly caught his eye and he looked away. She flashed him a flirtatious smile and he grinned in response. "Well, Saïx," he said, finishing off the last of his drink and standing, "It's been nice talking to you, but I think my dinner just arrived."

"Good luck with that," Saïx said as the other vampire headed off.

* * *

Maybe his luck was starting to come back to him, the blonde thought as he delicately licked his lips, catching any stray drops of blood. He'd managed to have a very _sweet_ meal, and the evening had gone without incident. Now he could head home to Sora without being late for a change.

Humming to himself, he jammed his hands in his pockets and made his way from the alley. He was full and content, feeling safe, and so he didn't even notice the footsteps behind him at first. When he _did_ notice though, and turned to look, there was no one there. Shrugging a bit to himself, Demyx continued on his way. Cutting through another alley in an effort to get home faster, he heard the footsteps again. This time when he turned, he found himself face-to-face with Saïx.

Unable to stop himself, the blonde yelped in surprise. "Shit," he cursed, backing up a step, "Don't do that." Considering that it was a fellow vampire though, it was easy for him to get over his shock. "What are-"

He never got to finish that sentence though, as the next second Saïx had taken him by the shoulders and slammed him back against the wall of the alley. Demyx felt more than heard a sharp crack as his head connected with the brick and stars exploded before his eyes. His legs buckled and gave out and he would have gone down if the other vampire hadn't had him pinned.

Vampire or not, there had been enough force in that move to leave the blonde dazed. He started to make half formed questions, trying to figure out what was going on. The answer soon became very obvious though when he abruptly found fangs buried in his neck. He cried out at the pain, eyes opening wide. This wasn't pleasant or enjoyable in any way, this was savage-this _hurt_-and all at once it hit him; crusnik.

Though dazed and in pain, Demyx wasn't weak, and he raised his hands, fingers digging into Saïx's shoulders as he attempted to push the monster away. His efforts were met with a growl though as the blue haired vampire hungrily drank his blood. Saïx grabbed the blonde's wrists, twisting them away and to the side, and Demyx cried out again as he felt bones snap.

This was bad, very bad, and he struggled uselessly as the crusnik drank. He felt his strength sapping, and his eyes began to slip shut, until all at once there was a sickening crack and the fangs were gone from his neck. The blonde crumpled to the ground, only half conscious as he cradled his broken arm against his chest. There was a familiar voice, and then someone was forcing him to stand again, dragging him to his feet. Through hazy vision he recognized slate hair and panicked blue eyes.

"Fuck, come on, move. He won't be out for long."

Nodding mutely, Demyx complied the best he could, uninjured arm slung around Zexion's shoulders for much needed support. Somehow they managed to get to the latter's car, where the blonde was dumped in the passenger seat. He could hear Zexion muttering to himself as he hurried around to the other side and started the engine. Had he not been so close to passing out, Demyx would have commented about the other's unusual display of concern.

"You have to stay awake," Zexion snapped, his eyes flickering from the road to the blonde as he drove. His words were laced with panic, but Demyx had a vague feeling that Zexion wasn't just worried about him.

"You have to stay awake, I said!" the blue-haired young man repeated sharply as Demyx's eyes drifted shut.

"Mmm, yeah," the blonde mumbled, words slurred as he jerked his head up again.

All at once, Zexion slammed on the brakes, and Demyx yelped a bit as he was nearly thrown into the dashboard. He turned blurry eyes towards Zexion as the other vampire began to hastily push up one sleeve.

"I don't like the idea of this," he stated coldly, eyes narrowing in a glare, "But you'll die otherwise."

The blonde blinked at him as Zexion offered out his wrist. There was a moment's hesitation, and then Demyx had latched onto his arm with his mobile hand, pulling him closer. He bit down swiftly, fangs piercing through soft skin, and Zexion winced, looking away.

Demyx shifted a bit in his seat as he began to drink, his body desperate for the hot blood that it needed to repair itself and continue functioning. There was one little flaw about this situation though; Demyx always killed when he fed from humans, and when he fed from Xigbar, he was _usually_ always forcibly stopped. Meaning? He'd never learned proper self control.

Everything started out fine though of course, with the blonde drinking deeply from Zexion's wrist. It was easier than usual for him to lose himself in the taste, with what had happened to him, and he wasn't even aware of the fact that Zexion was cautioning him until all at once, that wrist wasn't beneath his fangs anymore. With a growl of protest, Demyx looked over to Zexion.

"That's enough," the other vampire said, holding his wrist close, "You'll be fine for now until I-"

He didn't get to finish because it was then that the blonde lunged at him, knocking him against the car door. Before he had a chance to react, Demyx was on top of him, straddling his lap and leaning in close. While Zexion was still trying to process what was happening, the blonde sank his fangs into his neck, tasting his blood for the second time that night. There it was, stronger this time-the pleasant sensation that accompanied Demyx's bite-and for just a moment, the other vampire felt himself being swayed by it. _No!_ He couldn't give in, if he did that, he might die.

He didn't like the idea of hurting Demyx, but the blonde was leaving him with no choice. Reaching blindly for the younger vampire's broken arm as he drank, Zexion gave it a sharp twist. With a strangled yelp of pain, Demyx jerked back, freeing his fangs. There was just enough room then for Zexion to punch the blonde square in the face, knocking him unconscious and sending him sprawling back across the passenger seat.

"_Damn_ it," the blue haired vampire cursed, pressing a hand over the bleeding puncture wounds on his neck, "I should have never fucking offered, I should have let you die."

They were just words though, because he was shaken up over this whole incident. It reminded him so much of…no, he didn't have time to think about that, he had to get Demyx to Xigbar before something else happened.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter Seven**

"I said I was sorry," the blonde whimpered again as they pulled into the parking garage, still cradling his broken arm against his chest.

"Apology accepted, now stop whining," the blue haired young man snapped as he drove.

With a last whimper, Demyx fell silent. Zexion was upset, that was particularly clear to him, even though the blonde could only partially remember what had happened. It was more like it had been a dream to him, hazy and blank in places. He hadn't meant to attack Zexion, really he hadn't, but he was just so hungry, and when he got a taste of blood, it was hard for him to stop until said hunger was sated.

"I already told Xigbar what happened," Zexion said as he pulled the car to a stop, "He's waiting for you."

"Thanks, Zexi," the blonde said honestly, carefully reaching around to unbuckle his seatbelt.

"It's nothing," Zexion said with a small shake of his head.

"You saved my life," Demyx said, "So again, thank you."

The other young man nodded, "Just go, before he thinks something else happened to you."

With a small smile, Demyx nodded as well, "All right," he said, pushing open the car door with his good hand.

* * *

Sometimes his job was so easy, sometimes like tonight. All he had to do was sit there, drinking his beer, look pretty, and they came to him like moths to a flame. This time he seemed to have attracted a set of twins. They were both blonde, eyes golden brown, and very beautiful. Attractive or not though, they were both vampires-he could tell by the way they moved, the way they talked. It was as obvious to him as if they had a giant neon sign over their heads.

They flirted shamelessly, and for the sake of his job, the redhead went along with it. They were hungry, he could tell by the way they kept closing in, and eventually he suggested that they "head back to his place". The two vampire women jumped on the offer, and knowing that he was set, he led them from the club. They were soon to meet their end though, as his other half was waiting for them in the alley behind the club.

These vampires clearly weren't warriors, and a few crossbow bolts later, their blackened existence had been ended. This left just the two hunters, and the redhead eyed his boyfriend somewhat warily. He'd been a bit pissed over the incident with the blonde vampire, but he seemed to have forgotten all about it now. Axel preferred "better safe than sorry" though, and approached the other hunter cautiously.

"How many does that make now?" he asked, draping his arms around Riku's neck. He was never the one to keep count after all-he was more of a killer, not a record keeper.

"Twenty-five," the silver-haired hunter responded.

His tone was casual and welcoming, and Axel took this as a good sign. "Twenty-five," he repeated, nuzzling against his lover's neck, "In just a few weeks. Hope this place has a lot more."

Riku 'mhmm'ed, arms winding around the redhead's waist to pull him closer.

"I hope we can stay here for Christmas," Axel murmured, running his fingers through soft silver hair.

"Ax…that's months away, why would you still want to be in _this_ place?" the other asked, aqua blue eyes reflecting his confusion.

"For the snow," the redhead replied, "A white Christmas."

Riku sighed at his boyfriend's childishness-for someone who could be so violent and brutal in a fight, Axel could be so…young at times. "You've seen snow plenty of times," he pointed out.

"Not on Christmas," the redhead protested, tensing a bit as he leaned his forehead against Riku's shoulder.

"What does it really matter? It's just snow."

Apparently that was the wrong thing to say though, because Axel drew back abruptly and turned away.

"It matters because I want to share a white Christmas with _you_," Axel said, crossing his arms. Body language and tone said he was mad-his boyfriend had missed the point of why he'd brought up Christmas.

* * *

Demyx wandered down one of the halls in the mansion, trailing his fingers lightly along the wall as he walked. His broken arm was still cradled close against his chest, supported in a makeshift slung so that it'd be more comfortable. Though he was doing much better than before, well fed again and taken care of, his broken arm was still mending, as bones took longer to repair than other injuries.

He was bored at the moment, waiting for Xigbar to be done with…something that he was taking care of, he hadn't been exactly sure on the specifics, and since they hadn't been mentioned to him, he figured it wasn't his place to ask. He hummed to himself as he went along, after a while, the melody belonging to one of the songs he'd performed a long time ago, when he'd still been human and with his actual band. The exact words escaped him right now though, but he wasn't bothered by that-they'd return to him eventually.

He could vaguely hear voices, one of them he could pick out as Xigbar's, the other wasn't familiar to him; soft and sweet, though right now raised in defense. A woman's voice-or maybe a mere girl, from the sound of it, a teenager, somewhere around sixteen maybe. He could only hear every other word or so, and in his boredom he tried to figure out what they were talking about.

"…not my fault………didn't work…"

"That's what I'm…………follow him."

Demyx tilted his head as he continued to walk, peeking into various room as he passed them. _What wasn't her fault? Who was she following?_ He supposed he might never find out, as there was the faint sound of a door closing, and all at once the voices were much harder to make out. With a shrug, he turned back around, walking the opposite way down the hall, and gave up on figuring out what was going on right now.

* * *

"You're all I have left, you're important to me," the redhead said, arms remaining firmly crossed over his chest, "I just figured it'd be nice for us to share a white Christmas because who knows how many Christmases we'll _have_ together, but hey, if you don't like the sound of tha-"

He was interrupted mid-sentence when Riku abruptly turned him back around and kissed him. Axel blinked a moment, but he sure as hell wasn't going to complain-why should he, after all?-and returned the kiss. His arms snaked around his boyfriend's shoulders, pulling him closer, and nuzzled against him.

"All right," Riku said quietly, leaning his forehead against Axel's, "We'll have a white Christmas."

Promptly, the redhead grinned, "Knew you'd see things my way," he said, playfully kissing the other hunter on the nose, "I love you, Ri."

Aqua blue eyes roll playfully in response to the kiss, "I love you too, Ax."

* * *

"What's this?" the blonde asked as he made his way over to an ornate black table where a scattering of photographs lay. Though maybe _scattering_ wasn't the right term; there was a good number of pictures on the table-an obsessive amount, actually. And even more disturbing was their subject. The snapshots he was referring to were all of a young kid, probably no more than eighteen, with spiky blonde hair and bright blue eyes. Demyx had never seen him before in his life.

"Hmm?" he repeated, picking up on of the pictures and looking over to Xigbar. Whatever business his sire had to deal with had been taken care of by now, and he'd caught up to the blonde in his wanderings.

"Oh, just a kid that caught my attention," the older vampire said.

Demyx bit his lip a moment, looking back to the picture. _Caught his attention?_ Yeah, no kidding. For the first time since he'd been with Xigbar, he felt jealousy beginning to stir within him, "Yeah, I can tell," he said aloud.

"He's elusive though," Xigbar said, walking over and sliding his arms around Demyx's waist, "Think you could do a favor for me?"

"…What kind of favor?" the blonde asked, leaning back against his sire while running one finger along the edge of the picture he held. He had a bad feeling about this-and his jealousy was going up another few notches already.

"Track down this kid and bring him back to me."

For someone asking for a favor, that sounded an awful lot like a demand. And now, that bad feeling expanded into a sickening feeling of dread and fear in the pit of his stomach. Something like this had never happened before-what did it mean? Was Xigbar growing tired of him? Or was this just some kid who would wind up dead in a few days? As cruel as it sounded, Demyx hoped it was the second option.

"Yeah, sure," he said emotionlessly, going against his better judgment-who knew what would happen if he denied what was asked of him, "Just tell me his name and where I'd be likely to find him, and I'll do the rest."

"Good boy," Xigbar said, affectionately kissing the side of the blonde's head, "His name's Roxas."

"Roxas," Demyx repeated. Already he hated that name.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter Eight**

Finding this kid was going to be harder than Demyx thought-for one, Roxas _was_ only eighteen, and looked younger, which meant he wouldn't be found in any of Demyx's usual haunts. To add to this, the kid was straightedge-no drugs, no alcohol. This all meant that Demyx would have to expand his search radius, think like an average teenager-where was he going to find this kid?

All of this was why he was there he was, Demyx supposed-though he hated it and felt so out of place here. Especially with the way he was dressed—sneakers, baggy jeans, a nondescript t-shirt and equally plain few-sizes-too-large hoodie—but he had to fit in after all, and his clubbing clothes just wouldn't do.

Shifting uncomfortably, he raised a hand briefly to scratch at his hair, gaze sweeping over the arcade again. This was the third place he'd been to, searching for this Roxas kid, and he really hoped this was the last place he'd have to look. The only thing he had to be grateful for right now, he supposed, was that his arm had long since healed perfectly without even so much as a scar.

Jamming his hands in his pockets, Demyx sighed, beginning to wander through the large room. A cacophony of noises surrounded him, the sounds of all the various games, voices raised in laughter and conversation, and other miscellaneous sounds. There was also a strong smell of popcorn and cotton candy hanging in the air-at least it was strong to his sensitive nose-and for a moment he debated against breathing. Then again, vampire or not, he needed to breathe, and he supposed that he could deal with the sickly sweet scents.

Just as he was about to give up, a splash of gold caught his eye, and his head turned so fast it could have been on a swivel. Teal eyes narrowed as he studied the figure critically, but it was enough. They were slight-smaller than he'd expected, perhaps a maximum of 5'2", if they were lucky-with spiky golden blonde hair and a sweet, cherubic face. It was _him_, Roxas-Demyx was sure of it when the boy paused in the game he was playing to look around. He had the bluest eyes that the vampire had ever seen, even more blue than Sora's.

Again, that feeling of jealousy reasserted itself. What was so special about _this_ kid? What made him worthy of Xigbar's attention?

Forcing these feeling down for now though, Demyx began to make his way over, trying to figure out just what he was going to say. He was far out of his element here, he had no idea to handle this situation-except as he usually handled these kind of things. This wasn't like picking up someone in a bar or club though, this was…just not his element. How was he expected to bring this kid back? He would find a way though, simply because he had no other choice.

Eventually he found himself standing beside Roxas, watching as the boy skillfully blew up alien spaceships on the screen of the game he was playing. He was completely oblivious to the vampire's presence, but Demyx was about to change that.

"Hey, you're pretty good," he commented, just loud enough for the boy to hear him.

Roxas flinched at the sound of his voice, somehow narrowly managing to avoid a game over before looking back over his shoulder. "Thanks," he said after a moment, giving the vampire a once over.

"Sorry, didn't mean to scare you," Demyx said with a friendly smile, "I'm Demyx."

He extended a hand, but the gesture was ignored as the boy couldn't remove his attention from the game. An uncomfortable silence grew, and Demyx dropped his hand back to his side, thinking quickly.

"Well, don't you have a name?" he said teasingly.

The boy sighed, as though Demyx was bothering him-the vampire wondered if he could change that-and finally replied, "Roxas."

"Roxas," Demyx repeated, though he'd already known, of course-and hated that name by now. "That's a nice name."

Roxas merely 'mhmm'ed, continuing to focus on the game, and again the vampire had the distinct feeling that he was bothering the boy.

This wasn't going to dissuade him though, and instead Demyx moved closer, reaching out to lightly trail his fingers through Roxas's golden locks. "I could show you something more fun than that game," he said, a light purr slipping into his voice. He couldn't help it-seduction was the only way he knew to get what he wanted.

The reaction was instantaneous-there was an explosion in the game, the words 'game over' were boldly displayed in flashing letters on the screen, and at once Roxas turned towards him. "What?" he said, blue eyes wide.

Well, one thing Demyx had to admit; the kid was perceptive, at least. "I could show you something _better_," the vampire said again, stepping closer until he was right in front of Roxas, looking down at the boy.

Had this been a different situation, Demyx would have had to laugh at the human's reaction to his advances-gaping like a fish out of water, basically.

All at once, Roxas shoved him away-or at least, Demyx allowed himself to be pushed back, as a boy Roxas's size didn't have the strength to do much to him.

"I'm…I'm _engaged_," the teen managed finally, though he was also blushing faintly now.

_Engaged?_ How come he hadn't been informed of this? "So?" Demyx started with another purr.

At that moment though, there was a soft, feminine voice that prevented him from continuing. "Roxas?"

The vampire looked over, finding that the source of the voice was a petite young woman, probably no older than Roxas. She was sweet and innocent seeming, with long, pale blonde hair, wide blue eyes, and fair skin. At once, she reminded Demyx of one of those fragile porcelain dolls.

"Right," he said, making the connection at once, "Engaged. Sorry I bothered you, I'll be going now."

It was as simple as that-he just turned and walked away. He wasn't going to push the matter-he didn't want to bring back Roxas anyway, and now he had a valid excuse. He couldn't be so sure that Roxas was straight-at least, not completely-because that blush had said a lot, but he _was_ engaged. And that was as valid an excuse as Demyx needed. Hopefully it would be left at that though.

* * *

"_What_ happened, exactly?" Xigbar repeated slowly, and his tone made Demyx's confidence falter.

"The kid's engaged," the blonde said, taking a step back, "And he seemed pretty straight to me."

"So where is he?" his sire questioned, continuing to slowly advance forward.

"I…I couldn't get him," Demyx confessed, "It would have been impossible without making a scene. I-I could try aga-"

In the blink of an eye though, before he could finish, he'd been pushed back against the wall, and Xigbar's fangs were in his neck. For a moment, the blonde could only blink in surprise, the pain from the savage bite not registering yet as his brain was still playing catch up. By the time he felt it, Xigbar had pulled back to stalk away, leaving the younger vampire dazed and hurt-and it did _hurt_. Possibly even worse than when the crusnik had bitten him.

Tears filled his eyes and he whimpered, raising a hand to the swiftly bleeding wound on his neck. What was going on? Never before had his sire been so mad as to hurt him like this. Was this all because of this Roxas kid?

His legs turned into jelly, and he slowly slid down the wall to sit on the floor, one hand still covering the bite on his neck. He was only vaguely aware that Xigbar was talking, something about being failed twice and having put his faith in Demyx. All the blonde could really focus on though was the throbbing in his neck as tears slid down his face like liquid crystals. He'd never really thought that his sire would hurt him, and now that it had happened-and he knew it was possible to happen again-he was frightened.

On this note, it was only natural that he flinched back when Xigbar crouched down in front of him. Drawing his knees up to his chest, Demyx eyed him miserably, trying futilely to wipe away his tears with his free hand.

"I'm sorry," Xigbar said gently, "I shouldn't have lost my temper."

Frightened or not though, Demyx loved and trusted him, and only hesitated for a second before throwing his arms around the older vampire, crying against his shoulder. As he was held close and comforted, his fear steadily began to ebb away. He would fix this, he would make this better. He would find a way, because he wanted to make Xigbar happy-even if it meant bringing him Roxas.

"I'll make this up to you," Demyx whimpered, nuzzling against his sire's shoulder, "I'll get the girl-his fiancée. With her here, he's bound to be yours."

That's what he would do-that was _all _he could do.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter Nine**

"Demyx! What happened?" Sora asked, alarmed by the blood staining his sire's clothes as he scurried after the blonde.

"Nothing," Demyx replied as he stalked into the bedroom, nearly ripping his shirt and hoodie in his haste to get them off, "Nothing at all, I'm fine." He hurled the discarded clothes violently into one corner.

"But-but the blood," the fledgling said, taking a few steps back so that he wouldn't get in the blonde's way.

"It's nothing to worry about, really," Demyx said in a more friendly tone, giving a soft smile as he tugged on a clean shirt.

"Then why can't you tell me?" Sora asked with a pout.

"Because I don't have time," the blonde replied honestly, grabbing a jacket from the closet.

"Why not?" Sora persisted, determined to get some answer, at least.

"I just don't," Demyx replied as he shrugged into the long sleeves of his hoodie, "There's something important I have to take care of."

He strode over to Sora, cupped the brunette's face in his hands, and kissed him deeply. Sora squeaked a bit in surprise, but returned the kiss, willingly opening his mouth to Demyx's soft but insistent tongue.

"I'll be back soon," the blonde whispered, only breaking away when they were both breathless, "I love you, Sora."

"I love you too," Sora replied, slightly dazed from the intensity of the goodbye kiss.

Demyx merely smiled faintly, running a hand through the brunette's hair before turning and heading out.

* * *

Finding the girl was easier than he'd expected-which was good, because the sun was still setting and Demyx felt about ready to drop from exhaustion. He hadn't slept in who knows how long-he couldn't remember, exactly-but he promised himself a reward of sleep just as soon as he got the girl back to Xigbar.

Her name was Naminé, and she definitely seemed to be a sweet thing indeed. He was watching her now, from across the street and through his heavily tinted sunglasses to protect his sensitive eyes from the sun. She was framed by the window of the café she was sitting in, a mug of coffee held close in both hands. There seemed to be something on her mind, he could tell by the way she kept looking around anxiously. Perhaps this was something he could use to his advantage.

Pushing off from the wall he'd been leaning back against, he made his way across the street and into the café. Sliding into the booth opposite the side Naminé was sitting at, he pushed his sunglasses up on top of his head.

"It's you!" she said nearly at once, recognizing him, "That guy from last night. Do you know what happened to Roxas?"

_What happened to Roxas? Was the kid missing or something?_ He didn't let his surprise show though, and instead decided to take a blind leap of faith on this subject. "Yeah, I do," the vampire said with a nod, "Who took him?"

The girl bit her lip, looking away, out the window, as though debating whether to tell him or not. This was understandable, Demyx knew-they were basically strangers after all. He'd been told he had an easily trustable face though, and this was another moment he was glad for that.

"A couple of guys," Naminé replied finally, looking down at the tabletop, "They said it was for his own good, but they wouldn't tell me anything. They said it would be too dangerous."

The pieces were starting to fall into place, and they were forming a very unpleasant picture.

"Lemme guess," Demyx said, resting his elbows on the table, "One of them was a redhead, and the other had silver hair?"

"Yeah," she said, "You know them?"

"I know _of_ them," he clarified, "They're bad news, but I can help."

"Just who _are_ you?" she asked, clearly wary-but worried-about this whole matter.

"I'm someone who can help, Naminé. I know where they took him, and I can help you get him back," Demyx said, appearing completely sincere.

Naminé seemed startled that he knew her name, but before she could speak, he continued.

"I had a feeling they would come after you two, I'm just sorry that I acted too late," the vampire said with a sigh, averting his gaze.

She was quiet for a long moment, just looking at him, and he almost thought that there was something knowing in her eyes, but he didn't allow it to unnerve him.

"…You can really help?" Naminé said softly.

"I can," he confirmed, nodding, "But we should get you some place safe so nothing happens to you too."

She hesitated, not seeming to like the idea of going any place alone with him.

"Come on," he said comfortingly, "I just want to help you get your fiancée back. I swear I won't hurt you."

Naminé bit her lip, worry reflected in her wide blue eyes as she considered this. "Well…all right," she relented at last.

_Bingo._ He kept the grin off of his face though, instead just sliding out of the booth and pulling his sunglasses down over his teal eyes. "Good," Demyx said, "We should get going before it gets dark."

Still appearing a little reluctant about this, the blonde girl followed suit, trailing after him cautiously. "You know where they took Roxas?" she asked.

"Yeah," the vampire said, holding open the door for her like a proper gentleman, "But you need to be safe first, before anything else."

Naminé nodded in thanks, pausing out on the sidewalk for him to catch up. He could tell that she had more questions to ask, but somehow she managed to refrain for the moment.

A ways up the street he could see a silver corvette idling by the curb-that was his destination, where he was leading the girl towards. He could only hope that no one found anything suspicious. As they reached the car, it took a single blow to the back of Naminé's neck to knock her out, the action so fast it was nearly a blur. Demyx caught her in one arm as she started to fall, pulling open the passenger side door with his free hand. Carefully, he eased the girl into the car, looking over at Zexion as he did so.

"Get her to Xigbar," Demyx said, "And make sure he knows that the hunters have Roxas somehow."

The other vampire sighed, but nodded, "He'll find a way to get what he wants," he said.

"He always does," Demyx agreed, flashing a grin, "I'm going to get some sleep, I'll see you later." With that, he shut the door, waving a bit as he watched Zexion drive off with Naminé.

Yawning and stretching, the blonde turned and started towards home. Things were taken care of, and now he'd be free to snuggle up with Sora for a few hours for some much needed sleep. Humming quietly to keep himself awake, he jammed his hands in his pockets and continued walking.

* * *

"See?" Demyx said as he locked the door behind him, "I told you I wouldn't be gone long."

He was met by a tackle hug the moment he set foot in the living room, and the force of it coupled with his exhaustion nearly caused him to go down.

"You're back to stay now, right?" Sora asked, snuggling up to his sire.

"That I am," Demyx replied with a smile, wrapping his arms around the brunette.

"So now you can tell me what happened?" Sora said, blinking up at the blonde in a manner that was absolutely adorable.

"After I get some sleep, alright little bird?" the older vampire said with a quiet laugh, "I've been up since forever."

Sora pouted. "Promise?"

"I promise," Demyx replied, ducking his head to kiss his fledgling.

That was when it happened. There was no warning, no sigh at all, it just…happened. Peace was broken as the front door was kicked in, splinters of wood flying as the lock was torn from its place. The blonde vampire jumped, pulling Sora closer to him protectively and whirling about to see what was going on. At once, all color drained from his face when he saw the two hunters enter, the redhead first, and then his silver haired boyfriend. Axel and…Demyx couldn't recall if he'd ever learned the other's name.

At any rate, his mind was too jumbled to think of names right now. He could only gape at the hunters, thinking that they must have followed him, because that was the only way they could know where he lived.

"See? Just like I said, Ri. Nice and easy," Axel said, looking very smug indeed.

"There are the rare times when you're right," Riku agreed.

The redhead shot a look back over his shoulder, seeming to want to say something, but refraining.

Thinking quickly, Demyx bent his head to be able to whisper in Sora's ear. Things were bad right now, very bad, and no matter what happened, he couldn't allow these hunters to get their hands on his fledgling-Sora had never done anything to anyone; he did _not_ deserve to die.

"When I tell you to run, you go," the blonde whispered, making sure that only Sora could hear him, "Get to _The Palace_, find the Nymph. Tell her what happened, she'll know what to do."

"But Dem-" Sora breathed, his eyes wide.

"No buts. Just do it." That was final; there would be no arguments on this.

Abruptly letting go of the brunette, Demyx charged forward, flinging himself at the hunters. His unexpected actions caught Axel off guard, and he stumbled back, hitting Riku. The three of them fell in a tangled heap, and the blonde looked over to Sora, struggling to keep the hunters down for as long as he could.

"Run!" Demyx commanded.

The brunette hesitated, eyes wide with fear and worry.

"Run, dammit!" Demyx repeated.

And this time, Sora ran. Ran and didn't look back.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter Ten**

His head _hurt_. That was the first thing the blonde could register as he slowly awakened and his mind kicked into gear again. Just as slowly, he vaguely recalled what had happened to _make_ his head hurt in the first place. He fought with the hunters, giving Sora the time he'd needed to escape. He only just remembered being thrown headfirst into the wall by the redhead, and then-realizing that he could be in trouble still, he abruptly jerked his head up, teal eyes snapping open.

That proved to not be one of the smartest moves, as it instantly made him dizzy. He would have fallen over if he hadn't been so tightly bound to the chair he was sitting in. That as well took another second to register, and when it did, fear flooded through him. He was bound, immobilized; his ankles were tied to the legs of the chair, and his hands behind him, to the back of it. Panicking, he tugged at the bindings, but the rope was too thick, looped too many times for even his vampire strength to deal with at the moment.

"Take it easy," a voice chided him, tinged with dark amusement, "If I wanted you dead I would have carved your heart out already."

His head jerked towards the sound, and he winced as the sudden movement caused a twinge of pain in his temples. It wasn't helped at all by the uncomfortably fast pace his pulse suddenly acquired, the rhythm pounding through his head.

The red haired hunter, Axel, was sitting on the couch across the room, watching the vampire with a definite glint of amusement in his aqua green eyes.

"What _do_ you want then?" Demyx asked, his voice coming out as a dry rasp.

"Simple," Axel said with a grin, leaning forward to rest his elbows on his knees, "I want you to tell me where your sire is."

The question made the blonde's chest tighten, and he could only gaze at Axel for a long moment. _They wanted to know about Xigbar?_

"He's our ultimate goal here," the redhead said, rising to his feet and stretching, "Hey, if you tell me willingly, I might even be persuaded to let you live."

No. There was no force on this earth that could make Demyx betray his sire. He would _not_ sell Xigbar out, no way. Stubbornly, the vampire turned his head to the side, refusing to even look at the hunter.

"It'll be much better for you if you tell me now," Axel said, a hint of a purr creeping into his voice as he strode towards the blonde.

"I won't betray him," Demyx growled, still looking off at some random point to his side.

The redhead paused in front of him, before moving to sit on his lap, one knee on either side of the vampire's hips, and strong fingers tangled in his fair hair as the hunter slid his arms around Demyx's shoulders. The close, unexpected contact made the blonde tense, muscles going rigid, but still he refused to look at Axel.

"I wonder how strong your loyalty to him is," the redhead said quietly, his lips inches from Demyx's ear, "Would you suffer for him?"

Finally, Demyx shifted his gaze, teal eyes flashing with anger and defiance. "Fuck you," he said.

At once, all the playfulness drained from Axel's expression, replaced by something dark, something dangerous. If he hadn't been so determined to keep up a strong front, Demyx would have shrank back-if that was even possible-because he was sure he was getting just a small, small glimpse of the monster that existed underneath the hunter's shell. It was peeking out, the thing that dwelled beneath the flawless skin and handsome face, beneath the sly grin and the eyes that promised pleasure.

The sudden sound of a throat being cleared distracted them both though, even caused the blonde to flinch a little. In unison, they both turned their heads-something that could have been humorous under different circumstances-to see the silver haired young man standing in the doorway. He shifted uneasily from one foot to the other, and though the action was slight, Demyx had the distinct feeling that the hunter didn't want to be here right now.

"I'm going out," Riku said, gaze focused solely on the redhead, "Call me when you're done."

"Will do," Axel said cheerfully, freeing a hand from Demyx's hair to give a wave, "I'll see you later."

With a mute nod, the other hunter was gone, leaving behind only the sound of a door opening and closing.

"Now," Axel said, returning his attention to the vampire, "Where were we?"

The sadistic grin that spread across his face caused a sick feeling of dread in the pit of Demyx's stomach, but still, he simply turned his head to the side. _No force on this earth could make him betray Xigbar._

* * *

"_What_ happened?" she said again in disbelief, wide green eyes even wider than usual.

This was the last thing she'd expected when the shivering brunette had burst into _The Palace_ demanding that he had to see her. It should have been expected, considering all the trouble Demyx had gotten himself into before, but she hadn't seen this coming, not at all.

"I d-don't know what happened after I left," Sora said, eyes still wide and panicked, "He could be h-hurt, or…or…" he couldn't bring himself to finish, he couldn't consider that option. It was just too unbearable to think about.

"He's _not_ dead," Larxene stated matter-of-factly, striding across the room to snatch up her very expensive leopard print fur coat, "Come on, kid. We're going to see Xigbar."

"Who? We're going w-where?" the brunette said, sounding dazed as he rose to his feet, scrambling to follow after the older vampire as she moved purposefully down the hall.

"Xigbar," Larxene said, "He'll know what to do."

"I s-sure hope so," Sora muttered under his breath, fighting back more tears.

Demyx had to be okay, he just _had_ to be.


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter Eleven**

He hurt. So much.

He wanted it to stop, wanted to be somewhere or someone else, unconscious, something, anything. Vampire healing just wasn't working nearly fast enough. He would cry, but the tears would sting the cuts on his face and his swollen eye. He would scream, but his broken ribs forbade it. He couldn't do anything, he couldn't move, even if he hadn't been shackled.

He could just like there pitifully on the cold cement floor and wish more than anything that he was with Xigbar instead right now. Curled up in the safety of his arms instead of curled up in pain.

* * *

He inhaled deeply as he nuzzled his face into silver hair, trying to clear the scent of blood from his sensitive hunter's nose. Wrapping his arms more tightly around Riku's waist, the redhead gave a content sigh. He hadn't found out what he'd wanted to from their little blonde vampire, but he would in time. There was only so much pain one living creature could endure before they broke, after all.

Riku gave a sigh of a very different nature as he shifted a bit where he sat next to Axel on the couch. "I wish you'd find better methods to get information," he said.

"Why?" the redhead said with a smirk, breathing in the fresh, clean scent of Riku's hair, "It's the best way."

"Obviously not in this case," Riku pointed out.

"He's just tough, that's all," Axel said without too much concern, "He'll break eventually."

The silverette didn't bother to answer that, just turned to gaze briefly around the room before wrinkling his nose. "I thought I told you to clean up."

Axel glanced uninterestedly at the blood spatters on the floor, "I'll get to it," he said with a shrug.

The look Riku gave him in response though made him consider changing his mind. All right, so he did more than just _consider _it.

"All right, all right, I'll take care of it," the redhead relented, untangling himself from his boyfriend and rising from the couch.

A loud noise caught him off guard though, startled him, and he flinched just a bit before realizing that it had been the sound of the front door being kicked in. Reacting swiftly, Riku was the first to spring into action, getting to his feet and grabbing his long dagger from the coffee table.

Cursing his slower reflexes, Axel scrambled to retrieve his knives. He had been a hunter longer, hadn't he? So why was he always slower and weaker than the silverette? He was older, he had more experience, so why? Now wasn't the best time to worry about that though, so he pushed the thoughts to the back of his mind and focused on the matter at hand.

With a knife firmly in each hand-the blades still stained with the blonde vampire's blood-Axel spun, heading for the front door. Riku was already some number of steps ahead of him by now, out of sight-no, there he was, stumbling back and falling from a blow by their unseen intruder.

Rounding the bend, the redhead saw who it was and smirked. There was no mistaking that face, that presence-it was Xigbar. The vampire they'd been looking for had come to them, how convenient.

Still with a smug air of confidence, Axel swiftly threw one of his knives-at least he had the best aim of the two of them, and always hit his mark with dead-on accuracy. There was a blur of motion as the vampire caught the knife and threw it back, faster than the redhead could react, and he grimaced as it embedded in his shoulder. Stumbling back against the door frame, he reached up to pull the blade free.

"All that work I did to find you, and I didn't even have to bother," Axel said with a grin, still with his usual arrogance.

His words had an obvious affect on the vampire, and Xigbar growled as he stalked towards the redhead.

Riku moved to intercept, but was knocked away easily before he could attack, his head connecting solidly with the wall. Axel aimed a slashing blow with one knife, but the vampire caught his hand, twisting hard, and the redhead sucked in a pained breath as he felt bones snap.

"You'll regret hurting him," Xigbar said, the words low and dangerous.

"Oh really?" Axel shot back, doing his best to ignore his throbbing wrist, "Try me, vampire."

He received a growl in response, and found himself flying across the room. He hit the wall headfirst, falling to the ground in a heap. There was a metallic taste in his mouth, and for a moment it was all he could do to not pass out. He could hear the sounds of a fight, a few sickening cracks in particular piercing through the fog clouding his mind. Riku, where was Riku?

Forcing himself to his feet, Axel stumbled across the room, leaning one hand on the doorway to keep his balance. It took him a second to process the fact that the vampire was bent over Riku, fangs buried in the silverette's neck. When he _did_ realize it, fury tinged with panic swept over him and he strode forward, reaching out with his good hand.

"Stay the fuck away from him," the redhead growled.

Before he could do anything though, Xigbar spun, delivering a sharp punch to the hunter's face. There was a crunch as Axel's nose broke, blood running down over his chin, but he pressed forward until he was punched again. He stumbled back, his head hitting the door frame just as his vision was engulfed in black and he went down.

* * *

He flinched back a bit when the door opened, and he lifted his head from the floor to be able to see with his good eye, the one that wasn't nearly swollen completely shut. Hey…he recognized that figure, however blurry they appeared to be right now. Shifting a bit, he curled his broken arm closer against his chest, trying not to jostle it, and smiled as much as his bruised, bleeding face would allow without too much pain.

"Xiggy…" he rasped, broken ribs stabbing into his lungs more and making him wince.

He knew how horrible he must look, with his clothes ripped and bloodied, the various bruises and broken bones-and he_ felt_ all of them too-but right now none of that seemed to matter anymore. His Xigbar was here, and everything would be all right now, he was certain of it.

"I didn't…tell them anything," the blonde said, voice hoarse as he tried to sit up, but only succeeded in causing pain to flare in his wounds, the chains on his shackles clinking together.

"I know, it's all right," Xigbar said soothingly, crouching down next to him.

"…I knew you'd find me," Demyx said with another wince and whimper, only semi aware of when the chains were snapped, "I never gave up hope…I knew you'd come…" He was closer to tears now, much closer to giving in. It was so much _easier _now, knowing he was safe, or he would be at least once they were out of here.

"It's all right," the older vampire said again, carefully lifting the blonde in his arms.

Succumbing finally to his emotions, Demyx allowed himself to cry, no matter how much the tears hurt. It didn't matter right now; his torture was over, Xigbar was here, and he was going home.


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter Twelve**

Oh, _fuck_.

There simply weren't any other words fitting for this situation as he sat on the floor, holding Riku close with his good arm. His other arm was still shot, the shoulder aching and the wrist useless. Swift hunter healing or not, he would still need a few days before he was as good as new. In his current situation though, he didn't have a few days.

Repeating another mantra of _'fuck'_ through gritted teeth, the redhead fought back tears of fury and panic. This couldn't be happening, not to them, not to _Riku_. He was helpless, powerless to stop what was happening-Riku had been tainted by vampire blood and there was nothing Axel could do but try to hold him still while the silverette was wracked by pain. How dare that monster condemn his lover to such a fate.

Of course, there was one thing he was overlooking as the convulsions stopped. He would soon be dealing with an aware newborn vampire-and he was spattered in blood. That didn't occur to him yet though, as he was still wrapped up in exactly what had happened. He couldn't help but blame himself for this-he was a hunter, he was supposed to be on the ball, and yet he'd fallen so easily. He'd let his partner down, the one person who was supposed to be able to always count on him.

"…Riku?" he said softy after a moment, running his hand through silver hair.

The one in question stirred a little as he came to, groaning softly. He raised his head, looking to Axel, and the red haired hunter drew back a little instinctively. There was a _hunger_ reflecting in those cyan eyes, and it suddenly reminded him of how close he was to danger.

Well, fuck.

Carefully, Axel eased out from under Riku, sliding to the side, and climbed to his feet. Eyeing the silverette warily, he took a few steps back. "Everything'll be alright," he said, "I promise." What exactly could he do to make things alright? He really had no fucking clue, but he wasn't about to admit defeat.

Cyan eyes followed his every movement as Riku stood. "I'm hungry," he said, voice quiet, "You should stay away." His actions contradicted his words though, as he moved towards the redhead.

"I'll find a way to make things better, I'll fix you," Axel said, taking an equal number of steps back. He stole a glance behind him, making sure he wasn't backing himself into a corner.

"There's no way to do that, and you know it," Riku said, moving closer still.

"Doesn't mean I won't try," the redhead said. There was no fucking way he was just going to accept the fact that Riku was a vampire now and leave it at that.

Another glance back over his shoulder, making sure he had space still, and that was when it happened. He caught a flash of movement out of the corner of his eye and turned, raising one arm just in time to slap a forearm across Riku's chest as he approached, attempting to hold him back. Unfortunately, it was his injured arm and was easily twisted aside.

He leaned backwards to avoid the silverette's grasp and ended up tripping over the leg of the coffee table. Losing his footing, he fell back, crashing through the glass top and bashing the back of his neck against the wooden edge. He was somewhat dazed as he struggled to get back to his feet, but he really didn't have to worry about it as Riku grabbed the front of his shirt and dragged him to his feet.

Gritting his teeth, Axel twisted to the side, trying to free himself, but only found himself stumbling as he was shoved back. Hitting the taller table that sat beside the couch, he struggled to keep his balance, knocking over the heavy ceramic lamp in the process. It hit the floor, the bulb shattering and sparking out, but surprisingly the rest of the lamp remained intact. That, however, was the least of his worries right now.

Pushing away from the table, the redhead regained his balance and aimed a swift punch. The blow caught Riku on the jaw, but apparently he put too much force into it or not enough, because he managed to knock the silverette to the floor but not knock him out. Nonetheless, it was a chance to act, and Axel took it, moving quickly for the door. He didn't even make it five steps when a hand shot out, catching him around the ankle, and he tripped, falling hard.

He landed face first on the floor, feeling his nose crack again, and hissed in pain. Pushing himself up on his hands, he started to stand just in time to be tackled, the force of it knocking the air from his lungs. For a second he could just blink up at the ceiling as he lay flat on his back, trying to remember how to breathe. A sudden pain in his shoulder-fingers inadvertently digging into the stab wound to hold him down-brought him back to reality.

Maybe it was just the current situation, but he never quite realized how _heavy_ Riku was until this exact moment as he was being pinned down by the silver haired hunter turned vampire. Axel struggled uselessly to free himself, trying futilely to at least block his neck from being easily reached. He failed on all of the above, as the next second there was a searing pain in the side of his neck as a pair of sharp fangs pierced his skin, sinking deep. At least, the pain made it _feel_ deep.

With a grunt of pain, biting down on his lip to prevent anymore noise, he struggled harder. The pain mingled with fear was good for something at least; it sent adrenaline pumping through his veins, giving him some strength back, and he reached up with his good hand, tangling his fingers in silver locks and yanking hard. He received a pained hiss as he jerked Riku's head back, fangs freeing from his neck, but obviously the blood lust had too strong a hold on him-Axel couldn't see anything of the man he loved in those cyan eyes right now.

Fingers dug deeper into his shoulder wound and he temporarily weakened, his grip on Riku's hair loosening. It was all the new vampire needed, and he swiftly struck again, fangs sinking into the redhead's neck a second time, just above the first bite wound. Now Axel understood why it was so rare to hear of a human escaping or surviving a vampire attack-not only was the pain nearly crippling, but the natural instinct was to panic.

He was struggling not to do that himself, forcing himself to take a deep breath-_think, think. You've got a vampire attached to your neck drinking your blood like there's no tomorrow. Not to mention that it's_ Riku. _Think, think, fucking_ think. Wait, what about-?

Green eyes flickered up and to the side, where the lamp had fallen earlier. From where he lay, he couldn't reach the lamp itself, but if he stretched out his good arm, careful not to disturb Riku-_not disturb him? What a joke_-he could just grab the cord. Wrapping his fingers around said cord, he slid the lamp over, trying hard to ignore the pain in his neck, and the quiet wet sounds that accompanied it, or the way his vision was starting to grow dim.

Awkwardly grabbing the neck of the lamp, he raised it up high-silently asked for forgiveness, but he had to do this-and brought it smashing down. The result was instantaneous-and exactly what he was expecting, thankfully, though he had to close his eyes to protect them from flying ceramic shards. After a small jerk in surprise, Riku collapsed, out cold.

Breathing a sigh of relief, the redhead dropped whatever was left of the lamp off to the side before wrapping his mobile arm around Riku, fingers tangling in silver hair. This was _not_ something he wanted to have to go through again, at least, not this violent and uncontrollable. He probably wouldn't _survive_ if this happened again, actually.

"Fucking hell," Axel said hoarsely, wincing a bit as the action tugged at the wounds on his neck.

_What the hell was he supposed to do now?_

* * *

He awoke all at once, teal eyes snapping open as he gasped in a breath like he'd been drowning. He hurt all over still, though not quite as bad as before; it was more manageable now. The blonde was shivering badly though, his skin covered in a cold sweat, and he wondered vaguely if this was some part of the healing process-he'd never been this injured before after all. He just knew he felt awful and he wanted to find Xigbar and curl up in his arms-his sire would be able to make him feel warm.

Sliding from the bed, Demyx dragged the comforter with him, wrapping it around his thin, bruised and shaking shoulders and made his way across the room. He could hear soft voices from beyond the closed door, but in his current state, he really couldn't make out what they were saying at all. One of them _did_ sound like Xigbar's voice though, and the other he just couldn't place right now.

Easing the door open just a bit, he peered through the crack, wincing a bit at the light in the next room-his bedroom was blissfully dark in comparison. He froze at the scene he saw though, eyes widening and heart doing a sickening dance in his chest. There was Xigbar, sitting on the couch, with that Roxas kid pulled close on his lap. Since when did that happen? Did he get the kid when he went to save Demyx?

He still couldn't hear what they were saying, but just the simple _tone_ of Xigbar's voice-that sly, seductive pitch that Demyx had only ever heard directed at him-made his stomach churn. He was jealous, he knew it, he'd admit it, but he couldn't help it. For years he'd been the only companion in his sire's life, and now it looked a lot like he was being replaced-at least, that's how he saw it.

The sick feeling in the pit of his stomach only grew as he watched Xigbar turn the blonde boy's head to the side gently with a finger under his chin, and leaned in close. Demyx gripped the door tightly, pale, trembling fingers making marks in the wood as his sire sank his fangs into Roxas' neck, the action appearing so soft and tender. His breath caught in his throat, a few shuddering breaths causing a small flare of pain from his still mending ribs.

_This wasn't happening, this wasn't happening._ He was just having some nightmare, right? He most certainly was not watching Xigbar bite into his own wrist and offer the wound to Roxas, no he was not. Because if he was, that meant he was standing here crying silently while his sire made a new vampire-a replacement for Demyx.

Dropping his eyes away from the scene, he eased the door shut again and made his way back across the room. Flinging himself down on the bed despite all his injuries, he buried his face in the pillow and began to sob.


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter Thirteen**

"Why do_ I_ have to be the one to teach him?" the blonde demanded, arms crossed over his chest. _He's your damned fledgling._

The edge in his voice didn't go unnoticed, and his sire slid closer, wrapping his arms around Demyx. "Because you're good at it," he said with a purr.

Demyx refused to relent though. "Zexi's good at it too," he pointed out sulkily.

"You've got better social skills," Xigbar told him, laying kisses against the blonde's neck.

"Flatterer," Demyx grumbled, determined to stay angry. He was expected to teach Roxas how to hunt? Why would he want anything to do with that kid, when for all he knew Roxas was going to end up replacing him?

His sire chuckled against his neck, "Is it working?"

"No," the blonde replied.

There was a nip at his neck, then a soft bite, just enough for Xigbar's fangs to pierce his skin and infect Demyx with the pleasure of it.

"F-fine," he relented, his breath catching in his throat as he shivered, "I'll teach him."

"Good," Xigbar said with a smile, lifting his head to kiss the blonde, "Love you."

"I love you too," Demyx said quietly, returning the kiss. Really, did Xigbar still love him? "I'm not going anywhere though until Sora's back here and safe," he added.

* * *

Blue eyes watched him pace back and forth in front of the window. He was worried about Sora-his fledgling had returned to the apartment with Zexion to grab some clothes and stuff. The problem with that was the hunters knew where Demyx lived, and it was dangerous to go back there.

"You're worried…" a soft, feminine voice broke through his thoughts.

He turned towards the blonde girl who sat across the room, watching him. "Yeah," he said simply, but didn't divulge.

Demyx began to pace again, gnawing on his thumb, and for a long moment there was silence.

"…Where's Roxas? Why can't I see him?" Naminé asked.

He stopped pacing again, turning to face her and debated for just a second on how much to tell her. Why not just tell her the truth? She was going to find out sooner or later anyway.

"Your fiancée's been turned into a vampire," he stated bluntly, "It's not safe for you to see him because he's a young vampire still and if he's hungry he'll simply attack."

The girl stared at him for a long moment, and he could see the emotions cycling through her eyes. "A vampire?" she repeated faintly.

"Hey, I don't like it any more than you do," Demyx sighed, running a hand through his hair, "But we don't get a say in these things, do we?"

Naminé tilted her head a bit, a slight frown on her delicate face. "Why would…_you_ be upset about this?"

He gave a bitter smile, "My sire is showing too mu-"

He was cut off then as his cell phone began to ring. Fishing it out of one pocket, he saw that the number flashing across the screen was Sora's, and his mood brightened a little.

"Hey little bird," he said after flipping the phone open, "What's up?"

A low chuckle greeted him. "Sorry, Sora can't come to the phone right now."

A chill dripped down Demyx's spine like a trickle of ice water-he knew that voice. "Where's Sora, what've you done to him?" he demanded.

"I haven't done anything to him-yet," Axel said. He sounded tired, weary, but also a little off in other ways.

"Where is he?" the blonde asked again, fear edging into his voice.

His words and tone had caught Naminé's attention, but he didn't want her to overhear this, so he slipped from the room, out into the hallway.

"He's right here, with me," the hunter said. There was a shifting of movement and Demyx could hear his fledglings muffled voice.

"Sora!" a mix of slight relief and even more panic swept over him.

"Don't bother; he can't hear you," Axel said, "Couldn't answer you anyway."

"What do you want?" Demyx asked, making his way down the hall. He didn't know what he was going to do, he had to find Xigbar. "Whatever you want, you can have it, just please don't hurt him."

"What do I want?" the redhead repeated with a bitter laugh, "I want my boyfriend not to be a fucking vampire, but I can't exactly have that, can I?"

"But there must be something else, something we can agree on," Demyx said.

"I want your sire dead, think you can manage that?" Axel said.

The blonde's step faltered for a second, "I…" he floundered for words-there was no way that would happen. "Bastard."

There was a low laugh. "I didn't think so. Too bad," the hunter said.

Another bend-finally, there was Xigbar. "Just don't hurt him," Demyx said, hoping to convey what was going on without actually explaining, "Sora hasn't done anything to anyone."

"But he belongs to you. And you belong to Xigbar. You see how that works?" Axel said.

_Shit._ "Just…please, he's innocent," the blonde pleaded.

"He's a vampire, he's already as good as dead," the hunter replied, "And he'll _be_ dead soon."

"Don't! Wait!" Panic seized Demyx-there had to be something he could do or say, something to save his fledgling.

He didn't receive a response, but a few seconds later, a strangled scream came over the line-he knew that voice well. "Sora!" his blood ran cold and for a long moment he forgot to breathe. _No, no, no, this couldn't be happening._ "Sora!"

There was nothing else though, the line went dead.

The phone slipped from his shaking hands, clattering against the floor, and he turned wide teal eyes to Xigbar, who had now come over to stand beside him. "He…he k-killed…" he couldn't finish the sentence; his throat was tight with unshed tears.

His legs felt about ready to give out, but his sire wrapped warm arms around him, pulling him close. This couldn't be real, he refused to believe it. But, deep down…he _knew_ it was. His fledgling, his baby…his _Sora._ Closing his eyes tightly and burying his face against Xigbar's chest, Demyx began to cry.


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter Fourteen**

"I _really_ don't fucking like this," he muttered under his breath. This was another special circumstance, another justified reason for him to curse. He felt _awful_, he felt like _shit_, and still here he was with the new fledgling, trying to teach him the ropes.

He was dressed like he was ready for this at least-black skinny jeans and matching boots, a skin tight metallic silver shirt with slits cut into the sides, and thick leather bands around each wrist-but he didn't _physically_ look ready for this. There were dark circles under his eyes, proof of how little he'd slept since Sora's murder, and his eyes themselves were bloodshot from all his crying.

And yet here he was, out with Roxas, stalking through the darkened city streets.

"Hey, I don't like this any more than you do," the younger blonde shot back sullenly, hands jammed deep into the pockets of his jacket.

Demyx snorted. "You've got it easy, you know. You're the baby vampire, the new golden boy," he growled, "All you have to do is follow my instructions and snag a meal, and you've done good." It was rare for him to be in such a foul mood, but really, right now he was not enjoying himself. "Then you can go home to daddy and he'll fucking coo over you some more."

From the way his rants were starting to go, it didn't really take a rocket scientist to figure out what one of the two things bugging him was. At least, Roxas was perceptive enough to pick it up.

"Is that what you're so upset about? Xigbar?" he said, quickening his step a little to keep up with the other blonde's long strides.

"Gee, you fucking think?" Demyx said, shooting a look at Roxas.

"Jeez, stop flipping out," Roxas grumbled, raising a brow, "He's all yours; I have absolutely no interest in him. I'm _engaged_ after all."

"Yeah, well, he doesn't seem to see things that way," the older vampire said.

"Well, that's his problem," Roxas said, shrugging his shoulders.

"No, it's my problem too, because he's _mine_, he's _been_ mine since I was human," Demyx said, making his possessiveness plain for all to see.

Roxas blinked a moment, taking a half step to the side, putting just a little more distance between him and the other vampire. "Like I said, he's all yours."

"Not very comforting," the older blonde muttered under his breath, pausing at the corner before heading across the street-he still had a task to complete tonight, after all, and that was to start training the fledgling in proper hunting tactics.

"You like guys, don't you?" Demyx asked out of the blue, causing the other to trip over his own two feet in surprise.

"W-what?" Roxas asked, blue eyes wide.

"Do. You. Like. Guys," he repeated, pronouncing every word slowly and deliberately.

"N-no!" Roxas said quickly, "Of course I don't."

"You're lying," Demyx said easily without even looking over, "I've known it's true since the first moment I met you."

There was a moment of stunned silence, and then…

"…How did you know?"

"The way you reacted when I was hitting on you," Demyx said, still not looking over, instead concentrating on where they were going, "It was all really clear then."

There was another moment of silence, during which Roxas chewed anxiously on his lip. "…You won't tell Nami, will you?"

The older vampire rolled his eyes, "Your secret's safe with me," he said.

"Thanks," Roxas said, breathing a sigh of relief.

"No problem, now, come on, we have work to do," Demyx said, pushing open the door to the bar they'd finally reached.

* * *

He took a deep breath and let it out slowly, enjoying the freshness of the night air as he leaned his arms on the metal railing. The events of the evening had gone well, and with some assistance, Roxas had completed his first feeding. Things had been…a little messy, but that was to be expected with such a young vampire. Now, to celebrate the success of everything, Demyx had taken the fledgling to one of his favorite spots.

It was an old bridge just outside of city limits, spanning a rushing river where a road had once gone through the thick woods, but now there was nothing left but rubble and chunks of concrete overgrown with weeds. It was a nice place, quiet and peaceful, and the scent of humans here was faint, rare; no one came out here often.

"This is a nice place," Roxas commented from where he leaned against the railing next to Demyx, head tilted back so he could look up at the stars.

"Yeah, it is," the older blonde agreed, gazing down into the waters below, watching the reflection of the half full moon rippling on the surface.

"…Thanks," Roxas said after a moment, and Demyx looked over at him, blinking in slight confusion.

"For what?" he asked.

"For helping me even though you didn't want to…and for agreeing to keep my secret," the boy responded, looking away from the stars for a moment.

"Oh. You're welcome," Demyx said with a shrug, looking back down to the river.

Silence stretched between them then, each of them just enjoying the silence and the scenery. Thoughts rolled themselves over and over in the older vampire's mind, and he gnawed on his lower lip as he considered them all. There had to be something he could do, right? He couldn't just let _everything_ he had slip out of his hands, could he?

Pushing away from the railing, he turned towards Roxas. "Hey, Roxy," he said, "You know earlier, when you told me to stop worrying?"

"Mhmm," the young vampire said, looking over at him again, brow furrowed in slight confusion.

"Well, I'm not going to," Demyx said.

In the blink of an eye he'd shot out one hand, grabbing Roxas by the neck, and yanked him closer, pinning the younger between his body and the railing. While the fledgling flailed a bit and struggled to figure out what was going on, Demyx fisted a hand in his golden hair and pulled his head to the side. His fangs elongated, and he leaned down, sinking them into the side of Roxas' neck as he bit down. The younger blonde yelped, trying to push him away, but Demyx had greater strength on his side, and he continued to hold on.

He hadn't fed tonight, and Roxas had eaten well, it was the perfect combination. With a soft sound that was somewhere between a growl and a purr, he began to drink, the young vampire's hot blood flowing down his throat as he swallowed. Roxas tasted…sweet, almost a little bitter, but not enough to be unpleasant.

Demyx winced a bit as fingers tangled in his hair, tugging hard, but he didn't let go. He ignored the fingers scratching at his arms, sure to leave welts in his pale skin, at least for a little while-they would be gone by the time he got home-and continued to drink. He didn't stop until he could hear Roxas' heartbeat become weak and fluttering, near death. Then and only then did he pull back, removing his fangs from the fledgling's neck.

Blue eyes were wide and confused, the question clear in them even as the boy gasped for breath, pressing a hand over the bleeding bite wound on his neck.

"You're wondering why," Demyx said, his own eyes flat and emotionless, matching his tone, "It's simple. You may not want him, but he won't fucking stop until you're his. The only way to end this and make sure I don't lose the only thing I have left in my life is to make sure you die."

Roxas' eyes opened even wider, and he shook his head repeatedly. "No," he managed, "There has to be…some other way…"

"Sorry kid," the older vampire said, "There isn't. He's mine, and I'm a jealous son of a bitch."

He couldn't lose Xigbar, he couldn't let something come between them-he _needed_ his sire, _loved_ him more than anything. And without Sora, Xigbar was all he had, the only _reason_ he had now.

Suddenly scooping Roxas up in his arms, Demyx hopped up until the railing, balancing there far more easily than any human would have been able to. "I really am sorry, but I can't lose him," he said with a shake of his head-and he meant it too. Under different circumstances, he really thought he could be friends with Roxas, but here, Roxas was his rival, his competition, even if he didn't intend to be.

Demyx held his arms out, over the edge, and the fledgling tried desperately to hold on to him, but he'd been drained to the point where he didn't have the strength to. It was very simple for Demyx to simply…let go, pushing Roxas away from him. The younger blonde tumbled down through the air, clawing at the side of the bridge as it passed by, but again, he was simply too weak.

Continuing to stand on the railing, Demyx watched with a faint, bitter smirk on his face as Roxas hit the water, and the rushing current pulled him under, dragged him away. He would drown before he bled to death. He was gone now, gone forever.


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter Fifteen**

Hopping down from the railing, the blonde sank down to the ground, leaning back against the metal rungs. Killed Roxas…he had _killed Roxas._ How could he have done that? Teal eyes widened as he blinked rapidly. Whatever could have made him think that this stupid idea would work? What was he supposed to tell Xigbar? And Naminé?

His sire was going to be so mad if he knew the truth. The truth…that was it. Demyx just wouldn't tell him what really happened. He would say…what _would_ he say? Forcing himself not to panic, he took a deep breath. Let it out slowly. Repeated the process. That hunter…the one who had killed Sora. Demyx could say he was responsible. It would be logical, wouldn't it?

Yes, yes it would.

Pushing himself to his feet, the blonde brushed some dirt from his jeans, ran a hand back through his hair. He would have plenty of time during the walk home to perfect his story, he had nothing to worry about. So long as he didn't slip.

* * *

His story had worked. And was he definitely glad he'd thought of it. He cowered a little just watching Xigbar's anger which was directed towards Axel-and didn't feel any guilt at directing the blame to the hunter who was actually innocent in this case. There _was_ guilt surfacing though over the fact that he killed Roxas himself, but he was sure he could deal with it. At least…mostly sure.

Until he had to tell Naminé, that is. He tried to tell himself he didn't care as he watched her expression fall, her heart break. Her tears affected him in ways he hadn't expected. He supposed it had something to do with the fact that he'd killed for reasons other than survival. He hadn't killed Roxas because he was hungry; he'd killed the boy because he was jealous and anxious.

That, combined with the depression from Sora's death that still weighed on his shoulders, _and_ how Naminé kept crying, was really grating on his nerves. He was trying though, really trying to keep from snapping.

Rubbing at his temples, Demyx shut his eyes tightly, trying to block out all sounds around him. Leave, he should have just left the room, but he didn't. Later he wished he had though.

"Would you just shut up?" he snapped finally, turning a glare to the blonde girl.

She fell silent for a moment out of surprise, blinking at him.

"I'm so sick of hearing you mope. Poor Roxas this, poor Roxas that," the vampire continued, "Since when did he become the center of the fucking universe?"

Naminé drew back a little, and he realized he was scaring her, but he really didn't care right now.

"Roxas is _dead_, I made sure of it. He's the center of _no one's_ universe anymore," Demyx concluded, nostrils flaring as he sucked in a breath. He realized too late what he'd said, but it was of course too late to take it back, so he'd just have to roll with it and see what happened.

"_What?_" she asked in a faint whisper, blue eyes impossibly wide and wet with tears.

"I killed Roxas," the blonde vampire said flatly, "I drained him and dumped him off the bridge. I made sure tha-"

"_You did what?_" The voice was low and silky, and the sharp edge of danger was impossible to miss.

Demyx froze still at the sound, eyes widening, and slowly turned around. Ice water ran through his veins when he saw Xigbar standing in the doorway, and at once he was afraid.

"You told me that the hunter killed Roxas," his sire said. His voice was still low and even, but there was a _look_ in his eye that made the blonde draw back a step.

"I-I only did it for us," Demyx said nervously, "I didn't want to lose you."

He began backing up swiftly though as Xigbar advanced towards him, nearly tripping over his own two feet in his haste. "I didn't know what else to do," he babbled, raising his hands in defense, "I was scared, and I-"

He broke off mid-sentence though as his sire wrapped a hand around his neck, shoving him back against the wall. A swift punch met his ribs, and he gasped in pain as he felt bones crack, crunch, from the force. Pain lanced through his side, and tears stung his eyes. This wasn't happening; he was having a nightmare, because there was no way Xigbar was hurting him again.

The single hit made Demyx want to double over in pain, but he wasn't allowed to, as he was still being held in place. Xigbar met his gaze, forbidding him to look away, and shifted his hand to the side before leaning in closer. All at once he bit down on the blonde's neck, fangs sinking through his skin, and Demyx yelped at the searing pain of it.

Instinct said to get away from the pain, so that's exactly what he tried to do, struggling to the side as his hands came up to rest on his sire's shoulders, trying to push him away. All he succeeded in doing was causing himself more pain and possibly angering Xigbar even more. He received a warning to remain still in the form of a low growl and a knee jammed between his legs, threatening worse things.

With a whimper, Demyx forced himself to stop struggling, his hands trembling against Xigbar's shoulders. Tears streaked down his face while his sire drank, and the blonde tried to retreat to his safe place. All things considered, considering how mad Xigbar really was, this wasn't so bad, it could have been worse. He was still scared though, still shaking, and pain flared through his side whenever he inhaled.

The one thing that _did_ make things worse though was remembering that Naminé was still in the room, a silent witness to how bad things could get when his sire lost his temper. Demyx glanced over to the corner where she was-yes, she was still there, watching them with a horrified expression, but when she noticed his attention, she quickly hurried from the room.

Finally, Xigbar drew away, letting Demyx crumple to the floor, dazed and shivering in pain and fear. "I told you to watch him, to make sure nothing happened to him," he said, turning and walking across the room.

"I'm s-sorry," Demyx whimpered, putting one hand over his neck and wrapping his other arm gingerly around his ribs.

His sire just sighed, shaking his head a bit, and took a seat in his favorite chair-his _throne_. At least, that's what Demyx thought of it, because that's what it reminded him of most. A damned throne and Xigbar was the king.

"I-I was scared," the blonde said miserably, tears still stinging his eyes as he slowly began to drag himself across the floor towards Xigbar, "I didn't want to l-lose you."

"Lose me?" his sire repeated, raising an eyebrow.

Well…at least it seemed that his anger had dissipated, mostly.

"I was afraid he was going to r-replace me," Demyx admitted, looking down for a moment, still making his way across the floor.

"…Demyx. What made you think I was replacing you?" Xigbar asked.

The blonde was quiet for a moment, wincing as he pulled himself to his knees, finally having reached his goal, and just blinked at the older vampire for a moment, "You…you mean…?" he started, rubbing at his eyes with one hand.

"Yeah. I'd never replace you, kid," his sire said with another sigh.

"I…I…" well great, now he felt even _worse_, but really-from what he'd seen, it'd really looked like he was being replaced. Xigbar had been so _obsessed_ with that Roxas kid. "I'm sorry," Demyx whispered, taking Xigbar's hand in both of his and holding on tightly. Lowering his head, he began crying again. "I'm so sorry."

"I'm still mad…" Xigbar said.

The blonde winced. "I'm sorry," he whimpered again, "Please forgive me."

The older vampire leaned forward a bit, running his other hand through Demyx's hair, and the blonde looked up hesitantly, teal eyes still watery. "I love you, kid."

Demyx looked down again for a moment, nuzzling against his sire's hand that he still held within his own, "You have a horrible way of showing it sometimes," he mumbled quietly, afraid of invoking Xigbar's wrath again, then added louder, "I love you too."

With a soft smile, Xigbar turned his hand over, exposing the inside of his wrist to Demyx. The blonde blinked a moment, remembering again how much his neck and ribs hurt-he knew that blood would help speed up the healing process. The blood he'd drunk earlier would only slowly be affective by this point. He knew it was an offer, and all things considered, he wasn't about to refuse.

Licking his lips, Demyx placed a kiss against his sire's wrist, his fangs growing, and then he bit down carefully. A soft whimper escaped his throat as he tasted Xigbar's blood, and slowly his previous fear began to ebb away-everything was alright again now, wasn't it? He wasn't drinking for long though before an unfamiliar voice spoke from behind him, causing him to flinch.

"Am I interrupting something?" It was a low, deep voice that commanded attention, and it mostly definitely caught the blonde's.

Clinging tighter to Xigbar's hand, Demyx shifted just enough to look behind him without putting strain on his ribs or his neck, and when he saw the figure standing there, he whimpered just a bit, feeling uneasy. It was a tall man, quite a bit taller than Xigbar, with broad shoulders. He had long black hair in dreadlocks, pulled back in the front so that they were away from his face, and his eyes were a deep violet.

There was just a _presence_ about him that made Demyx fearful, and he shrank back more, leaning against his sire's knee. What was going on? Who was this man-this vampire, because that was quite obvious for the blonde to see? Just like it was obvious the way Xigbar tensed, his full attention going to this new arrival.

"Not at all, brother," Xigbar said.

Demyx's eyes widened as he looked back and forth from his sire to this unknown man. _Brother?_


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter Sixteen**

His expression was classically dismal as he made his way down the hall, trying to work a kink out of his neck. He'd gotten lucky a few nights ago, when he'd went with Sora to Demyx's apartment. The hunter hadn't been very interested in him-just Sora. He'd tried to stop the redhead, but…well, things hadn't ended good.

With a frustrated sigh, he looked up as he noticed the sound of another set of footsteps, these coming towards him. He stopped short when he caught sight of the figure, his heart stuttering. Slate blue hair, deep blue eyes. He knew if they were to stand side-by-side they would be completely identical, save for the way they were dressed-Zexion himself in black, the other in white.

With a muttered curse, Zexion ducked into a dark room, pressing against the wall, out of sight-what was _he_ doing here? It had been five years since they'd last seen each other, so why now after all that-something draped over his eyes, obscuring his vision, and mild panic filled him-an instinctive reaction.

"Calm down," a voice so similar to his own chided him, "It's only me."

"Really?" Zexion said dryly, "I never would have guessed."

"You don't sound happy to see me."

He decided not to comment on the fact that he really couldn't see anything right now. "Whatever gave you that impression, _brother_?"

He reached up, trying to remove whatever was covering his eyes, but hands covered his, pulling them aside. Shifting uncomfortably he twisted his hands back, trying to free them, but they were pushed back against the wall. He may not have been able to see his brother, but he didn't have to to know that he was pressing close. Knowledge that made Zexion even more uncomfortable-he wasn't exactly a very touchy-feely type person after all.

"Why do you always fight me?" his brother asked, lips against his ear.

"Why must you insist on entering my personal space?" Zexion replied, turning his head to the side.

"You never seemed to mind much before." He was still so close, soft hair tickling against Zexion's skin.

"It's been five years," Zexion said, straining against his brother's grasp, "Now let go, Aki."

Managing to free himself, he finally pulled the obstruction away from his eyes, discovering that it was a white scarf-his brother's, no doubt, from how he was dressed.

"Five years too long…" Aki said quietly, "You were supposed to be my eyes."

Zexion didn't reply, instead remaining silent as he twisted the scarf in his hands. He knew the look he shot his brother wouldn't be caught by those sightless eyes though, and just turned away. "I need to speak with Xigbar," he said, beginning to make his way from the room.

He hadn't made it even five steps though before arms wrapped around him from behind, holding him tightly. "Aki…" he started with a sigh, a slight edge of warning in his voice; as the elder of the twins-though not by much-he expected his wishes to be respected. Sometimes there just wasn't a good chance of that happening though.

"I've missed you," his brother said, voice muffled against his shoulder.

"I missed you too," Zexion said, though his tone said otherwise, and he managed to worm his way out of Aki's grip.

It was as he was finally moving down the hall, towards the room beyond where he knew Xigbar would be that three simple words from his brother caused him to stop in mid-step.

"He's here too."

* * *

There was still confusion in teal eyes, even more when his sire pulled his hand back, gesturing for the blonde to go.

"Leave, Demyx."

Slowly, with still aching ribs, the younger vampire rose to his feet, sliding a hand gingerly over his side. He didn't understand what was going on, who this new arrival was and why Xigbar called him brother. More importantly, he didn't want to leave his sire alone right now, he wanted to be around in case something happened. Not that he would be of much use in his current state, but…still.

"_Now_, Demyx," Xigbar said, and his tone made the blonde shrink back.

Against his will, Demyx exited the room, skirting far, far around the unknown vampire with the dreadlocks, gaze flickering between him and Xigbar. Something really didn't feel right about this, but maybe he was just worrying too much again. If he thought his confusion was going to get any better out in the hallway though, he was sorely mistaken. Upon seeing the two figures in the hall, his jaw dropped, and he looked from one to the other.

"Zexi…?" he couldn't finish, solely because he didn't know how to complete that sentence. There was Zexion and…_another Zexion?_

_

* * *

_

"So, he's a vampire now."

Axel hated that voice, the low purr and wicked smirk that accompanied it. He hated knowing what the simple fact of Riku being a vampire now meant to this acquaintance of his-things had been fragile enough with this truce, and now it seemed it was growing more fragile still. Most of all though, Axel hated that he was currently too weak to do anything about it-and he looked it too. His skin was pale and sickly in color, there were dark circles around his eyes, and his eyes themselves were dull and flat, lacking the usual spark that was there.

Tiredly, he ran a hand over the fang marks on his neck, hoping they weren't as visible as he feared they were. Sometimes, when he couldn't find something to bring back for Riku, he had to substitute…with himself. It never got any easier, but at least he didn't have to take a lamp to the silverette's head anymore.

"Yeah? So fucking what?" the redhead asked, trying and failing not to appear as exhausted as he really was.

"Looks like it puts him on the menu," the crusnik said with another infuriating smirk that made Axel want to rip his face off.

Axel growled, taking a step closer to stab an accusing finger in the blue haired vampire's direction, "Look, I appreciate your help with the Roxas kid and all, but if you even _think_ about laying one hand on Riku, I _will_ put an arrow through your heart."

"Tough words for someone in such bad shape," Saïx sneered, "Seems he's been draining you pretty good."

The redhead ground his teeth, really trying to resist the urge to do something stupid-such as attack the crusnik. "That's none of your business," he said, green eyes sparking as they met dangerously glinting yellow ones. "As far as I was aware of, we still have a truce. You want Xigbar gone as much as I do, and until he's gone we work together."

"Only until then, hunter. Then you're free game," the crusnik replied.

"So're you," Axel said with a smirk that was far braver than he felt right now, "Guess we'll see what happens when the time comes, won't we?"


	17. Chapter 17

**Chapter Seventeen**

The rain was coming down in sheets, drenching the streets, the buildings, the cars, whatever unfortunate souls happened to be outside in this downpour. One of them being Demyx.

He sat on the hill where the observatory was, looking down over the city with all its bright lights. The building itself was closed, so he could be sure that there would be no interruptions to his solace. He wasn't really sure what he was doing out here, he'd just…been here since Xigbar had told him to leave. He was wearing the same thing as before, and his side hadn't fully healed yet, meaning he was not only drenched to the bone and freezing, but still in some degree of pain as well.

He'd long since ceased trying to stop his hair from falling into his eyes, and just left it where it was, plastered down against his skull from the never ending rain. One would think it'd have to let up for at least a little while, but apparently the weather had other plans in mind. He still didn't understand what was going on, and now not only was he trying to wrap his brain around the fact that Xigbar apparently had a brother, but there was Zexion and _his_ brother.

It sure as hell was unnerving to see two people who looked identical standing next to each other-Demyx still shivered a bit when he thought back to it. It felt…unsettling, almost cosmically wrong to see two of the same person, like his universe had tilted to the side and everything was being viewed at an angle. He hoped he wouldn't have to deal with the both of them in the same room much, at least, not until he got used to the concept of Zexion having a twin.

"Is this seat taken?"

The blonde flinched at the sound of the all-too-familiar voice, looking over to see the red haired hunter he'd come to despise. At least Axel had a jacket on to protect him from the rain, the hood up, but from how his red spikes were slicked down, it didn't seem to be doing him much good.

"You killed Sora," Demyx replied flatly, turning his gaze back to the bright lights of the city below.

"And your sire fucked up my life," the redhead said with a sigh, taking that to mean he could sit down, and did so, drawing up one leg to rest his chin on.

"You deserved it," Demyx said, his voice lacking any real emotion still.

"Understandable," Axel nodded.

"…"

"Feel like fighting to the death over it?"

"No…not really."

"Good-me neither. …You look like shit."

The blonde raised a brow, looking over and making a futile effort to wipe his drenched bangs back from his eyes, "So do you," he pointed out.

Axel managed a small, somewhat bitter laugh, "Things have been rough. And he kind of kicked me out. Temporary, of course," he added.

Demyx continued to gaze at him, eyebrow still arched, "What for? I thought you two got along so well." Of course there was slight sarcasm in his voice-how could he forget the day the hunter's significant other had found them flirting and decked them both?

"Long story," Axel said with a sigh, rubbing at his neck.

The action didn't go unnoticed by the blonde, and he was instantly able to pick up the meaning behind it. "You've been feeding him," he said, looking away again, "With your own blood."

"Yeah…" the hunter nodded slowly, dropping his hand away and ducking his head against the rain. "So what about you? Why do you look like shit?"

Demyx shook his head a bit, fixing his gaze on the city lights before speaking. "Haven't slept much. I killed Roxas. And Xigbar told me to scram. Temporary, of course," he added, mimicking what Axel had said earlier.

"You did _what_?" There was disbelief in the redhead's voice-he'd been fighting to protect Roxas from the things that go bump in the night after all, and now he found out that all his efforts went down the drain? Not exactly the easiest thing to hear.

"He was a vampire. Already as good as dead, right?" the vampire said, looking back over, previously quoting something Axel himself had said some days before.

Axel just winced a bit. "But why?" he asked, sounding genuinely curious.

"Rivalry," Demyx replied with a shrug, turning his gaze to the wet, muddy ground. He still felt awful about that, and he really didn't want to get into it any more than that.

Unexpectedly, the redhead reached out a hand, laying his palm against Demyx's arm, and the vampire flinched slightly at the contact.

"You're freezing," Axel commented.

"Yeah? So're you," Demyx said, slightly confused. What was he getting at? "But unlike humans, we can't catch colds from being out in the rain."

"Come on," the redhead said, nodding his head towards the observatory as he climbed to his feet.

"Why?" Demyx asked warily, slowly doing the same. Despite the fact that they seemed to be experiencing a temporary truce, he still despised the hunter-and didn't trust him.

"Let's get out of the rain," Axel said, trudging bravely through deep puddles as he made his way to the dome shaped building of the observatory, "Before I get pneumonia or something."

"But it's locked…" the blonde said, hesitantly trailing along after him, "No one can get in."

The hunter shrugged, flashing a brief grin back over one shoulder, "I'll just pick the lock then."

Slowly, Demyx's hesitance was turning into skepticism, and he hurried to catch up to Axel, curious to see if the redhead could really do as he said. To Demyx's surprise, Axel really _could_ pick locks, and proceeded to do so right now, granting them access to the observatory, inside out of the rain. It was much warmer inside, but Demyx was still shivering-and so was Axel, he noticed, though really didn't care.

He rubbed his bare arms vigorously in an attempt to warm himself up, but it was pretty much a futile effort. The next moment though he was immensely caught off guard when Axel turned towards him, stepped up close, and kissed him. Right on the mouth. Eyes widening in surprise, Demyx backed away swiftly, only to bump into the edge of a table he hadn't noticed before.

The redhead moved closer still though, kissing him again, and there was something so lost, so desperate about it that Demyx felt his heart flutter. He wasn't exactly sure why, maybe it was just the circumstances that they had ended up meeting here because of, but he found himself returning the kiss. He shouldn't, he knew he shouldn't-he didn't know what would come of this, and besides, he had Xigbar, but…he'd kissed lots of guys-and women-before without consequence. All part of his nightly hunt though, not like this.

Parting his lips to allow Axel's tongue in his mouth, Demyx lifted his hands, pushing back the hood that concealed the hunter's red locks, and tangled his fingers firmly in the wet hair.

_This is the man who killed Sora._ That little voice was soon buried beneath pain and anxiety and…everything else that Demyx was feeling at the moment.

Axel's hands slid to the vampire's sides, holding him in place while his tongue explored Demyx's mouth, and the blonde hissed in pain, jerking his head back.

"What is it?" the redhead asked in confusion, uncertain as to what he'd done.

"My side," Demyx said through gritted teeth, "…He cracked my ribs. Hasn't healed yet."

"Xigbar did?" Axel said, brows furrowing together, though his hands moved to the vampire's back now instead.

The blonde just nodded, averting his gaze. "It's only recently. Only since Roxas," he said quietly.

Axel just shook his head a bit, deciding that commenting on this issue would be pointless, and leaned in to kiss Demyx again. "Demyx," he whispered against the blonde's lips, "Turn me. Make me a vampire."

"What?" teal eyes widened in shock as he leaned back, the edge of the table biting into his skin, but it was hardly felt with how numb and cold he still was.

"You heard me," the redhead said, completely serious.

"I…I can't do that," Demyx said, shaking his head and causing water droplets to fly from his hair, "That's not the sort of thing I can just _do_. You're a hunter anyway, why would you want to be a vampire?"

"…So he doesn't have to worry anymore. I don't want him to have to be afraid that he's going to hurt me," Axel said, looking away for a moment.

The blonde just blinked at him for a moment, thinking at this moment that maybe there was more to Axel than he'd seen before. That the hunter wasn't just the monster he'd initially thought. "I can't. You should be asking _him_ this, not me," he said.

"He wouldn't do it," Axel said, hands stroking absently along Demyx's back.

"You never know until you try," the vampire pointed out.

The redhead was quite for a moment, seemingly weighing his options. "What if I told you something," he said finally, "What if I said that Sora's still alive?"

At once Demyx's fingers tightened painfully in the hunter's red locks, and he could see Axel wince, but he just didn't care right now. "What did you say?" he breathed, "He's not dead?"

"No…" Axel said, "He's not. He's still…alive."

"_Take me to him_."


	18. Chapter 18

**Chapter Eighteen**

"You're sure he's here?" Demyx asked in a whisper, gaze sweeping the darkened living room.

They'd ended up in his own apartment, oddly enough, something he hadn't been expecting. And now he still didn't know what to expect; he was wary and on edge, knees slightly bent as he made his way further into the room just in case he needed to defend himself. He didn't like the look of things-he hadn't been back to his apartment since that day and now the whole place smelled of death…that wasn't right.

"Where else would he be?" Axel said, hanging back a few steps behind the vampire and staying on guard, "After he escaped, well…I don't think he'd go anywhere else. Not that I know the kid enough to really decide on that though."

"He'd come here," Demyx said firmly, nodding.

The farther he moved into the apartment, the more his bad feeling increased. He hadn't seen any real reason for it yet though, it was just a feeling. A sudden scrabbling noise caught his attention, and immediately he turned towards it, his guard still up. He relaxed marginally when he saw a flash of blue eyes though as a small figure moved in the corner-a figure he could tell was Sora.

"Sora!" he said, standing up straight again and starting forward, "You're alive, I'm so glad to see-"

He was interrupted mid-sentence though when the brunette vampire launched himself through the air, hitting Demyx square in the chest and knocking him flat on his back. Demyx didn't know his reflexes were actually so fast until he'd managed to shoot out one hand, fingers wrapping around Sora's chin just in time to stop gnashing teeth from reaching his neck. A small, horrified sound escaped his lips as he finally got a good look at Sora-or at least his eyes.

They were flat. Dull. Blank. There was nothing of _Sora_ there, just a ravenous animal.

That look in his eyes scared Demyx, shook him down to his very core, and he had to struggle twice as hard to keep those snapping teeth from reaching his throat as fingernails scratched painfully at his shoulders and bare arms. It was a struggle also because he was trying not to hurt the brunette at the same time he was fighting to hold him back.

"W-what's wrong with him?" he managed to say after a moment, wide eyes darting over to where Axel was standing, "What did you do to him?"

"He should be dead right now," the redhead said quietly, what could possibly be a slight edge of guilt worming its way into his voice, "He was stabbed…and nearly drained completely…but here he is."

Anger flashed through teal eyes, but he just ground his teeth together, forcing himself on to comment on what had happened to Sora-it seemed that the last thing he'd need right now was to be distracted. The brunette kept struggling, straining for Demyx's neck, and he was forced to keep shifting his grip so that his hand wouldn't slip, so that those teeth wouldn't find his throat. This really wasn't the best time to be talking, but it didn't seem like Axel was going to help him at the moment, so he let the hunter continue.

"He's lost his _self_," Axel said, "He's nearly fallen to the status of-"

"Don't you say it," Demyx snapped, "Don't you dare say it. He's _not_ one of those mindless monsters."

The redhead was silent, averting his gaze.

"I could appreciate some help, you know," Demyx said crossly, wincing again as nails raked down his arms.

"Oh, right," Axel said, snapping out of his daze. Looking over, he picked up a statue from the table to his right, "Hope it's not valuable," he said in an offhand manner before swinging the object down towards the back of Sora's head.

The blow connected with a solid _thunk_ and blue eyes rolled back as the brunette lost consciousness. Finally ceasing his struggling and growling-and he _had_ been growling the whole time, Demyx would realize later-the young vampire fell still, slumping over on top of the blonde. Breathing a sigh of relief, Demyx sat up, wrapping his arms around Sora to keep him close, despite the fact that just a few seconds ago his fledgling had been dead set on ripping his throat out.

"…There has to be something someone can do," the blonde said softly, running one hand softly down the side of Sora's face. He was still so beautiful, so young and innocent looking.

"The only thing you can do is keep him alive and see if he regains his senses," Axel said with a sigh, returning the statue to the table it had come from.

Demyx shot him a look, carefully setting Sora down before climbing to his feet. "This is all your fault," he said, voice low and dangerous, "Sora's like this because of you."

"Not like anything can change that now," the redhead said, "All you can do is hope for the future."

Teal eyes narrowed, "I hate you," the blonde said.

He swung a fist, though ended up missing by a mile-exhausted or not, Axel still had the reflexes of a hunter, and managed to dodge to the side. Grabbing Demyx's wrist, he flipped the vampire over onto the floor, following swiftly to sit on his stomach and hold him down. Anger still flared in the blonde's eyes, and he started to fight back again when Axel leaned down and kissed him.

He still didn't understand this, nothing made sense right now, but Demyx found himself returning the kiss-again. Their actions were fueled by anger and hate, not by compassion-at least, not love-but hate can be just as passionate as love, as they were proving at this moment. His arms slid up, wrapping around Axel's neck, and his fingers tangled in the still wet red locks.

Axel, at least, seemed to have warmed up some compared to before, and his hands were warm as they slid up Demyx's sides, pushing up the wet silver material of his shirt as he went. His touch was carefully light when his palms skated across the blonde's ribs, remembering the still healing injury, as they continued their way up. Pale arms unraveled from around his neck, allowing the redhead to pull Demyx's shirt off over his head.

Shouldn't be doing this, there was no way he should be doing thi-no…now it was time to shut down the thinking part of his brain. The part that processed right and wrong, what he should and shouldn't be doing, because on some deep down level he _needed_ this, whether he hated Axel or not. And somehow, he had the feeling that the same went for the hunter.

They were desperate and alone right now, they both belonged to someone else, someone they loved, but they'd ended up here together. By all rights they should be fighting, trying to kill each other instead of undressing each other while an unconscious Sora in who-knows-what condition lay just feet away. This was something neither of them could fight though, and weren't even trying.

_They shouldn't be doing this, but they needed it._


	19. Chapter 19

**Chapter Nineteen**

The events of the previous night were a blur. All the blonde could remember was heat and passion and somehow resisting the urge to sink his fangs into the soft neck that seemed to end up against his mouth so often. Sheer force of will, that's all he could think of.

By the time Axel woke up, Demyx had already showered, changed clothes, and knocked Sora out again-just because he didn't know what else to do with the brunette. He didn't really know what to do in general right now-he was amazed that he was even awake, considering that the sun was still going down, and he usually wasn't awake during that time.

With nothing else to do, the blonde ended up sitting on the counter in the kitchen, where he could still see into the living room, and waited for Axel to wake up. At the same time, he hoped he wouldn't have to knock Sora out again.

It seemed to take forever, but finally the redhead stirred, coming to. Demyx didn't bother with any friendly greeting-they weren't friends after all. He wasn't sure what they were anymore.

"He'll smell it on you," the blonde said.

Axel craned his head back to look in the vampire's direction, still blinking sleep from his eyes. "Wha-" he was interrupted by a yawn, "What?"

"Your boyfriend," Demyx clarified, "He'll smell it. My scent. And the scent of sex."

"Worried about my wellbeing?" the redhead asked with a small smirk, sitting up and stretching.

"No," Demyx said honestly, "But I _am_ worried about my own. I don't exactly want him trying to kill me over this."

Axel shrugged, running a hand back through his hair, "What do you suggest?"

"Take a shower, wash your clothes," the blonde said, but as he spoke his gaze drifted over to Sora's sleeping form. "…What are we going to do about him? He can't just wander around."

Though he noted Demyx's use of 'we', the hunter made no comment on it. "Don't you have some place to keep him?" he asked.

Demyx shook his head, "No." He didn't want to bring his fledgling to Xigbar. Given Sora's current state he wasn't sure that would go over well-especially with those other two around.

Axel was quiet for a long moment, and in the silence the blonde vampire slid down from the counter, slowly making his way into the living room. "I have some place for him," Axel said at last, "A room in my apartment."

"…I don't understand you at all," Demyx said with a shake of his head, "You want to kill Xigbar, don't you? So why're you being nice to me?"

The redhead collected his clothes, rising and turning towards the vampire. "Honestly? I don't know," he replied.

"Maybe you're just screwed up," Demyx said with a sigh. He didn't trust Axel at all, considering what had happened, but he didn't know what else to do.

"Maybe I am," Axel said with a quick grin.

* * *

Sora was sleeping peacefully-for a change. Demyx had lost count of the days, but Axel had been true to his word-the blonde's fledgling had been stashed away in a hidden room and no harm had come to either of them. Demyx still didn't understand the motives behind this-and there had to be motives or else things would be even more confusing-but eventually he grew to be at least semi-relaxed in the hunters' home.

Over time, these few days, Sora had already seemed to recognize Demyx-at least, he'd stopped attacking the blonde when he entered the room. Demyx hoped that this meant his fledgling would continue recovering and would one day be able to return to how he'd been before everything that'd happened.

Tonight was a late night though; dawn would be coming soon and Demyx wanted to be home before the sun rose. Quietly he made his way from Sora's room, easing shut the automatically locking door. Upon turning, he flinched back a step, surprised by the sight of the silver haired hunter. Or maybe ex-hunter would be a better term, since he was a vampire now? Whatever the terminology, it unnerved Demyx the way Riku could just _be_ there, like he'd appeared out of thin air.

"Geez," the blonde said, placing a hand over his chest, feeling his racing pulse, "Put a bell on, man."

Riku however didn't bother to apologize-in fact he seemed somewhat amused that he'd surprised the vampire. "You really care about him," he said, "You're here every night."

"What?" Demyx said, blinking as the question caught him off guard at first. He didn't exactly strike up conversation with the guy-he spent most of his time here with Sora, after all. "Oh, yeah. He's…he's my fledgling. He's still so young and…I care about him a lot."

The silver haired vampire was quiet for a moment, and the way he was looking at Demyx made the blonde feel nervous. Either he was being eyed up to be possible dinner, or the ex-hunter was curious about something. Demyx could only hope it was the second.

"I used to think all vampires were the same," Riku started, "But you're proof that they're not."

Demyx blinked. Well, he hadn't been expecting that _at all_. "Uhm, no problem?" he said, not really knowing what else to say. He supposed he should be leaving now, and he started to slip past the silverette to make his way from the apartment.

Something made him stop though when he was only out in the hallway, and he blinked a few times before sighing. There _was_ something he'd seen in those cyan eyes, and it stirred something deep within him. A brotherly sense, since he and Riku _were_ like brothers in a way; they shared the same sire.

Running a hand through his hair, Demyx turned back to the silver haired vampire, who had been ghosting along silently behind him. "You're hungry, right?" he said.

His words appeared to take Riku by surprise, and he inclined his head slightly.

"He's not letting you hunt, he's trying to feed you himself," the blonde continued. It wasn't a lucky guess-Axel had told him before-but he didn't feel that had to be mentioned.

The younger vampire averted his gaze for a moment. "It's hard on him…I don't know why he has to be so stubborn about it," he sighed.

"Well…I'm here, right now," Demyx said with a shrug.

Cyan eyes swung back to him swiftly, and Riku frowned, "What do you mean?"

"You can feed from me a bit," the blonde clarified, taking a step closer, "I don't mind."

"I don't think that's a good idea," Riku said with a shake of his head.

"Why not?" Demyx asked, moving closer still, "You're hungry, I ate well-you won't hurt me."

The silver haired vampire still seemed unsure though, shifting his weight slightly from one foot to the other.

"Think of it this way," Demyx added, stopping directly in front of Riku and tilting his head back a bit to gaze up at him, "It'll be better for Axel if he doesn't have to worry."

There-that was the key. He could see the change in those cyan eyes, and after a moment, Riku gave a soft sigh.

"Alright," he relented.

"Good," the blonde said, nodding, "He'll appreciate it, really he will."

He was a bit surprised himself on the way things were going, though. Getting along with Riku, that is, considering everything that had happened. Overlooking the fact that the silverette had once been a hunter who'd not only cracked Demyx's ribs and shot him in the shoulder, but had shown up at the blonde's apartment with Axel with the intentions to kidnap and kill both him and Sora, he really wasn't a bad guy. In fact, Demyx found him quite likable, which of course could have just been tied to his crush on Riku, but still.

"It'll hurt," Riku's voice broke through Demyx's thoughts and he blinked, returning to the real world.

"That's alright," Demyx said with a shrug and ghost of a smile, "I'm used to it."

He doubted it could be too much more painful than Sora's bites, and so willingly bared his neck. He didn't feel his life would be endangered from this as the silver haired vampire stepped closer, one hand slipping around to brace the back of Demyx's neck, because if he could feed from Axel without killing him, than he would be able to feed from the blonde with the same results.

Teal eyes slipped shut in anticipation as Riku leaned down, holding his breath as he felt sharp fangs press against his neck. The bite was much more careful than he expected, fangs breaking through his skin in an almost delicate manner, but it didn't make it hurt any less. The blonde winced briefly at the pain, relaxing as it slowly faded, and took calm, even breaths as the silverette began to drink.

Demyx couldn't deny that this was enjoyable, because even though it hurt, it was a normal sort of pain, the kind of pain he was used to accompanying a bite from, say, Sora. He was addicted to bites, both painful and pleasant, and soon, very soon, his motives would be switching from a brotherly sort of kindness to an undeniable desire. He couldn't stop, couldn't control, the fire flooding through his veins, he could only try to dissuade the feeling and when that failed, give in.

A soft, breathy moan escaped his lips, and faintly trembling hands rose to clench at Riku's shoulders as he drank. The blonde vampire was sure that his swift pulse was evident, as was the tremor that ran through his body, but for the moment, the other gave no indication of noticing. There was some part of Demyx that was now telling him that he shouldn't have offered, that he should have known the results-and he had Xigbar, after all. But then there was the other part of him that said he'd had enough one night stands for them to stop mattering, that his love for Xigbar was what mattered-and that his desire for the hunter turned vampire right now was overpowering.

When Riku drew back, Demyx immediately captured his mouth in a kiss, drowning out a surprised protest. He moved closer still, pressing against the younger vampire, and when Riku tried to push him away, he resisted. Locking his arms around the silverette's neck, Demyx drew back from the kiss just enough to speak.

"I want you," he whispered against warm lips, lust hazed teal eyes meeting wide cyan ones.

"No. I can't." It was a firm refusal, and Riku shook his head.

"I've wanted you from the moment I saw you," Demyx murmured, laying a trail of kisses down the side of the silver haired vampire's neck, "I wanted to make you a vampire, and keep you with me, before I knew you were a hunter."

"I have Axel," Riku stated firmly, but there was an ever so slight tremor in his voice that the blonde was able to pick up at once.

It was a biting kiss Demyx placed against the ex-hunter's neck now, with just enough force for his elongated fangs to pierce through skin and infect him with the pleasure of the older vampire's bite. "You need this too," he purred quietly, "You're too tense; you need to relax."

"No," the silverette said, but his resolve was wavering, weakened by the bite, "Get off."

"You need this," Demyx repeated, arms sliding around Riku, fingertips ghosting down his spine, "Let me help you." He licked over the wounds he'd inflicted, sucking just hard enough on the twin punctures to force out a scattering of red droplets.

"_I can't_," the protest was weak though, his breath hitching faintly.

The blonde wrapped his arms tightly around Riku's waist, determined to get what he wanted. "I won't tell a soul," he murmured against the silverette's neck, biting down again, but careful not to drink. He knew how hard it was to resist the affects of his bite, and he was relying on that to help break down Riku's resolve.

"But I-" the ex-hunter started, his words tinged with a groan he was trying to fight back.

"Hush," Demyx said, drawing away enough to press a finger against Riku's lips, "Stop worrying. Stop fighting." His breath was coming short and shallow, the fire flooding through his veins now a raging force that was nearly blinding, desperately demanding that he have the silver haired vampire-and soon. "It'll be good for you, _I'll_ be good for you." He leaned in closer, moving his hand away. "_You know you want to_," he added in a whisper.

Teal eyes flickered from cyan ones to his lips and back again before Demyx finally closed the gap between them and kissed him. This time Riku kissed him back, and the blonde knew that he'd finally cracked his resolve.


	20. Chapter 20

**Chapter Twenty**

His skin still tingled as he made his way down the dark streets, heading for home. His heart still beat at a fast pace as he unlocked the door to his apartment. His senses were still flooded with the memories of last night. His breath still hitched whenever he recalled the sensation of skin against skin, that breathy voice in his ear, those delicious moans.

He'd ended up staying the day in the penthouse, sleeping in Sora's room due to his extreme aversion to sunlight. He'd slept well, curled up on the bed because the kid for some reason insisted on sleeping in the corner. Maybe it made him feel safer, more protected-which wouldn't be surprising, considering everything the brunette had been through and was still going through.

Now though, Demyx felt alive, like the very essence of night was thrumming through his veins. It was the kind of alive feeling that only Xigbar had ever been able to stir before, but now there was a second capable of it. Of course, the blonde was sure that it had been the first and last time he would experience that sensation of feeling alive from Riku.

Tossing his keys on the kitchen counter, he made his way to the bathroom, turning on the water in the shower. Shrugging out of his clothes while he waited for the water to warm up, Demyx hummed a tune to himself, some random rock song he'd heard recently at a club-the melody had become embedded in his mind, as was typical with a lot of songs.

Stepping under the hot stream of water, he tilted his head back and closed his eyes, letting the water cascade over his face and through his hair. It felt good to be home, to know that-at least for the moment-things weren't getting any worse. He _did_ miss his sire though; he hadn't seen Xigbar since the day those two vampires had arrived. He'd even tried calling once or twice, but had never gotten an answer so assumed that meant Xigbar was busy or didn't want to be bothered.

Demyx missed him though. It had been just about a week since he'd been in Xigbar's presence-the day his sire had broken his ribs, actually. Not really the fondest memory to look back on. Hopefully, in time the blonde would forget days like that had even happened.

With a sigh, he ran his hands through his hair, the wet locks flopping against his forehead, and leaned his head to the side. That was when he picked up a soft sound though-a sound that would have been inaudible to human ears over the rushing of the water. Someone had entered his apartment, because that had been the front door opening and closing that he'd heard.

Breath short and silent, he froze where he was, listening to the sound of whisper quiet footsteps ghosting through the apartment, drawing ever closer until the door to the bathroom opened. A figure slipped through, shutting the door again behind them, and even through the frosted glass shower door, Demyx recognized who it was. At once he relaxed, breathing a sigh of relief. Though this arrival was unexpected, they were far from unwanted, and he shifted under the stream of water, watching through the hazy glass as the figure stripped down.

A smile tugged at the corners of his mouth when Xigbar slipped into the shower with him, and he inclined his head curiously. "I wasn't expecting to see you," the blonde said.

"Thought I'd surprise you," the older vampire replied, joining Demyx under the cascade of water.

This was one of those rare moments when he was without his eye patch, but Demyx wasn't bothered by the scar tissue-he'd been with Xigbar for years now after all, and petty things like scars had stopped bothering him long ago. In fact, he'd really never been _bothered_ by any of his sire's scars, he'd just been curious.

"It's a nice surprise," Demyx purred, slipping his arms around his sire's shoulders and nuzzling against his neck, "I've missed you."

"Missed you too," Xigbar said, pulling the blonde close.

"How've things been going? With…you know?" Demyx inquired, unsure if it was his place to ask, but curious nonetheless.

His sire shrugged a bit, sighing. "It's a long story, and really uninterestin'," he replied, hands wandering along Demyx's back.

So, whatever was going on, Xigbar didn't want him to know about it. That just made the blonde all the more curious-and a little worried too-but he wasn't going to push the matter. He'd had enough of causing his sire to lose his temper lately, after all, and he really wouldn't like it to happen again.

"What about you?" Xigbar asked, nipping at Demyx's neck.

"I've been lonely," the younger vampire said with a bit of a pout, tilting his head to the side, "I don't like being without you for so long."

"I can fix that," his sire said, smirking.

The bite was soft, not exactly gentle, but _careful_, placed directly against the delicate, pulsing vein in Demyx's neck, causing him to gasp softly. Pleasure and desire pumped through his blood from the bite, doing the job it was supposed to, and his knees trembled for a moment. That really wouldn't be good though, considering the wet tile beneath their feet, but Xigbar was quick to remedy that though, pressing Demyx back against the cool shower wall and pinning him there.

His mind was clouded now, hazy-the bite was only a tease, only something to get him in the mood. As if he needed anything to do that, especially when the one in question was Xigbar. The bite was just a tease, but his sire wasn't the type to not follow through. No, Demyx would definitely not be lonely tonight.

* * *

"Why're we here again?" the blonde asked, stretching lazily and rubbing absently at the scar across the bridge of his nose as he gazed down at the city spread out below them.

The hundreds of lights from the buildings and cars glittered like fallen stars in the darkness, all easily seen from the mountain road where they were. Sure, the place was pretty-at night, at least-but that didn't make him want to be here anymore than he did.

"I told you," his companion said, glancing back to where the blonde was, "I have a matter of unfinished business to take care of here."

A displeased sigh escaped the lips of the first young man from where he was perched almost birdlike on the hood of his Dodge Charger. It was an older model, clearly displaying classic American muscle, and was painted pitch black with a single red stripe running across the top. "This place is too _domestic_," he complained, his voice holding all of the displeasure and attitude only an eighteen-year-old boy's could, and yet his eyes, piercing sky blue in color, said he was much older.

"I liked Rome better, ya know? Or Venice," he continued with a smirk, "Reminds me more of the _old_ days."

The weather was cold, not exactly frigid, but you'd generally want to wear more than he was. The blonde however, in his attire of black boots paired with dark blue jeans, black leather chaps, the outer seams adorned with short fringe, and a long black leather duster, the collar wide and popped up in the back to stand against the back of his neck, the seams lined with smooth silver studs, seemed perfectly fine. Not a single shiver ran through his toned body, as if this were a summer's night instead of an autumn one.

"In time," the other said, shaking dusty pink locks back from his face, "Have patience."

"_Patience_," the blonde repeated, "Ain't in my dictionary, an' you know that."

He bent one leg, resting a booted foot against the hood of his car to wrap his arms around his knee. The action caused the dim moonlight to reflect off the thick links and nameplate of the silver necklace he wore. Nothing was engraved on the visible surface of the plate, but on the reverse side was his name.

He was bored, and when he got bored, he got restless. They said patience was a virtue, but it was something he'd never learned-he was an action type of man. Throw him into the middle of a back alley brawl or a war zone and he was happiest, but keep him waiting around like this and he began to feel like a caged bird, unable to stretch his wings, so to speak.

"Why don't you put your excess energy to a good use then?" the older man said-at least, he was older in appearance-as he arched one brow, turning intense indigo eyes to the restless blonde.

"God, I'd love to," he said at once, hopping down from the car and landing in a crouch, leather coat dragging across the ground momentarily before he straightened to his full six-foot-two height, "What can I do?" Anything had to be better than hanging around doing nothing. Besides, if he helped, this would get taken care of faster, right?

A combination of scents clung to him as he moved, carried by the breeze that was coming around the side of the mountain, from the ocean some miles off. There was a faint scent of something charred, like ash, and it was accompanied by a smell that would commonly be referred to as rotten eggs, but in actuality it was sulfur. However faint they were, they were very distinct, and no amount of expensive cologne could fully conceal them, at least from an inhuman nose. A human though would most likely just notice his cologne, and not the scents it was hiding.

"I'm looking for someone," the pinkette said, reaching into one pocket to pull out a vial of darkly colored liquid. "Take this, sniff them out."

The blonde wrinkled his nose as he took the vial, holding it up to the faint moonlight. The contents looked black, but he knew in full light they would be red. "Bloodhound duties again?" he said, "Alright. I'll track 'em down, flush 'em out. Bring 'em back to you."

"Shouldn't be a difficult task for you," his companion said with a nod.

He snorted as he shrugged out of the long sleeves of his duster and draped it over one arm-there was a reason he never wore a shirt, after all. "It'll be a cake walk. I'll be back before you can miss me," he said.

"That's impossible."

"What is?" the blonde asked, looking back over and catching sight of the small smile tugging at the pinkette's lips.

"That you'll return before I can miss you, Seifer," he said.

"You flatter me," the blonde, Seifer, said with a grin, stepping closer to the edge of the road, where the land just gave way into a cliff.

He held the vial securely in one hand, making sure he wouldn't drop it, and then closed his eyes a moment, flexing his shoulders. He shook like a wet dog trying to dry itself, and with a wet, ripping, tearing sound, twin forms fought their way free out of his back. A few droplets of blood flew through the air before the process was complete, bringing with it the smell of ash and sulfur, stronger than before, permeating the air around him and overpowering his cologne.

The wings that had torn their way out from under his skin, joined at his shoulder blades, flexed and flared. They were large, angel's wings, but they were gray black in color, stained by soot and sin.

Before he was about to step over the edge though, he turned back to the other, head tilted as he remembered there was one important question he had yet to ask. "What's their name? The fox I'm hunting down?" A fitting phrase, he felt; if he was the bloodhound, then his quarry was the fox, right?

He received a slow smile in response, before one word was spoken, one name; "Aki."


	21. Chapter 21

**Chapter Twenty-One**

The blonde vampire shifted uneasily from one foot to the other, running a hand back through his freshly gelled hair. He didn't really like what he'd been told over the phone earlier when Axel called-the reason he was now standing here in the elevator, waiting to reach the penthouse. The redheaded hunter had said something was wrong with Sora and that Demyx needed to get there as soon as possible. Worried about his fledgling, Demyx had complied at once.

It seemed like forever before the doors finally opened, and there was Axel, waiting for him in the hallway. The double security gates had already been pushed aside, so all Demyx had to do was step from the elevator car, pulling his hands from his pockets.

"What is it? What's wrong with Sora?" he asked at once, teal eyes reflecting his concern and unease as he shifted his weight back and forth again.

In response, the redhead fisted his hands in the front of Demyx's jacket, pulled him close, and kissed him hard.

With a strangled yelp of surprise, Demyx put his hands on Axel's shoulders, managing to push him back. "What are you doing?" he demanded, "What about Sora?"

"There's nothing wrong with Sora," the redhead confessed, "I just wanted you to be here."

Demyx eyed him warily, raising a brow. "You did?" he asked.

Wordlessly Axel nodded, pressing closer until the blonde was backed against the wall. Leaning in again he kissed Demyx a second time, and this time the vampire the action. Though still wary, if Sora was alright then he wouldn't be quite as worried.

"Riku's out. He won't be back for hours yet," the redhead murmured when he drew away for air.

The innuendo in that was hard to miss, especially for someone like Demyx-but he shook his head slowly. "Axel…" he said, but the protest was weak.

He didn't understand why the hunter wanted to be with him, why this would be the second time if he allowed it to happen. They shouldn't be like this-a hunter and a vampire, each belonging to someone else. It didn't make any sense, especially since they'd started out-still were?-enemies.

"Axel…" he said again as the redhead kissed his neck, but his protest was as weak as his resolve.

Warm hands roamed across his body. Skating over shoulder blades and gliding down his spine. Running along his stomach, down to his hips. Soft lips persisted against his neck, swiftly breaking down what little resistance he possessed and before he knew it his arms were around Axel's shoulders, fingers tangling in spiky red locks to pull him closer.

His resolve had broken before he'd even been aware it was that endangered and no thought-not of Riku or Xigbar-could make him back out of this situation.

* * *

He might not understand why Axel wanted to be with him, but it didn't make things any less sensual. It was good, Demyx couldn't deny that, and for a little while he felt safe.

He knew he shouldn't linger after the fact, but lying there next to Axel, sweat cooling on his skin, he couldn't help it.

"Why are you with him?" the redhead asked, fingers absently tracing patterns across Demyx's stomach.

"Hmm?" teal eyes blinked in mild confusion, and he looked over.

"_Him_," Axel emphasized, lying on his side, head propped up on one hand.

Demyx shrugged a little, understanding now. "I love him," he said simply.

"Doesn't seem like he's healthy for you," the redhead said quietly.

The vampire shrugged again. "Love isn't always healthy," he pointed out.

Axel was quiet, fingers running over the blonde's ribs, perhaps remembering the injuries that had been there before.

"We met a long time ago," Demyx added, gazing up at the ceiling as he thought back, "And I was his from the very first moment."

Axel tilted his head a bit, seemingly waiting for the other to continue.

"I used to be in-" the blonde broke off mid-sentence, abruptly sitting up and looking to the door.

Vampire hearing allowed him to be aware of the footsteps approaching from the hall and his flushed skin paled-even more so than usual.

The redhead flinched when the door opened, and whatever his silver haired boyfriend had been about to say died on his lips. For a moment their expressions mirrored each other's and it was almost comical. Almost. Right up to the point where Riku's expression changed from shock to hurt to anger. Axel sat up, starting to say something that sounded like apologies, and Demyx took the moment to slip off to the side, sliding from the bed and reaching for his clothes. If he had to defend himself he wanted to be at least somewhat dressed.

"What, I'm not good enough for you anymore?"

"No! No, it's not that, I just-"

"You just what? Come on; I'm dying to hear how you'll try to explain this."

The redhead was floundering for words though, sheets wrapped hastily around his hips as he backed away from the advancing hunter turned vampire. "Just-just give me a minute!"

Behind them, Demyx snorted in amusement. This was perfect, the best way to turn them against each other-he couldn't have done this better if he'd tried. Unfortunately though this sound drew attention to him and he backed up a step when Riku turned on him, cyan eyes dark and dangerous.

"And _you_," he growled accusingly, "For a while I actually thought you were more than just a whore."

Shirt dangling from hand and a boot from the other, the blonde backed up more until he hit the wall-there was no where else to go and Riku was still coming towards him. Think, think, he had to _think_-how to turn them on each other again before the silverette ripped his throat out.

Teal eyes flickered in Axel's direction where the redhead was scrambling to pull on his pants, then back to Riku, and suddenly the solution came to him.

"You know Axel, it's been fun, but your boyfriend's better in bed."

For a few long seconds pure silence followed his words and both hunters froze. Slowly, slowly, Axel looked up, fingers hovering over the top button on his jeans that he'd been in the process of fastening. The silverette stared at Demyx for a moment, a breathless look of betrayal crossing his expression while the redhead looked like he'd been punched in the stomach.

The next moment Riku snarled, a murderous glint in his eyes. Demyx had a second to fear that his idea had backfired horribly on him, eyes wide, and then Axel spoke up.

"_Who's_ not good enough?" his voice was quiet, hurt, "You fucking _hypocrite_."

"Look who's talking," the silverette said, rounding on _him_ now, every motion fluid and dangerous, like a big cat, a pure predator.

Demyx grinned wickedly, breathing a sigh of relief-just in time. Stooping to grab his other boot, the blonde edged along the wall until he could slip out the door. Hastily finishing getting dressed, he darted down the hall to the supply room-if he'd caused this much trouble he sure as all hell wasn't going to leave Sora here.

* * *

The blonde girl paced back and forth uneasily, wishing she was any where but here, and that she had Roxas. But Roxas was gone and there was no way to bring him back-Demyx had made sure of that.

Sighing and twisting her hands together, Naminé turned to pace back in the opposite direction. A soft scratching sound and mew interrupted her though, and she turned towards the window. Outside perched on the sill was a small black kitten, wide blue eyes gazing at her intently. Now that it had her attention, the kitten mewled again, pawing at the window pane.

"Oh, kitty, you don't want to be in here," Naminé said softly, moving over to the window.

The kitten's ears drooped and it batted at the glass imploringly.

"Oh, alright," the blonde relented, a small smile tugging at her lips though her eyes remained forlorn.

Reaching up, she undid the latch on the window, pulling it open. With a swish of its tail the kitten leaped inside, rubbing against her ankles gratefully. The feline padded over to the middle of the room and then it did something quite shocking. It swiftly transformed into a teenage girl, about sixteen or seventeen, and Naminé squeaked in surprise, backing up until she bumped into one of the plush arm chairs in the room, falling back into it.

"Don't be afraid!" the girl said quickly, shaking ebony bangs back from her face, "I'm not going to hurt you."

"What-who-who are you?" Naminé stammered.

"My name's Xion. I'm, uhm," the girl floundered for words for a moment, shyness stealing her composure, "I'm a black cat."

That was it.

A black cat.

Nothing as classy or dangerous as a werecat, just a little black kitten often found as familiars to witches, as the old myths went.

"O-okay," the blonde said, nodding a bit, "After dealing with vampires, I guess…that's not so hard to believe."

Xion perked up a bit, but only for a moment.

"I'm sorry about what happened to Roxas," she apologized, looking down to the floor, "I can't help but feel it's partially my fault. He had me following Roxas, but I refused to help in any of his twisted ideas."

Naminé just stared at her for a long moment, comprehending what she was being told, and then shook her head slowly. No, whatever this girl did, she wasn't at fault. Xigbar and Demyx were the ones to blame.

"I didn't have a choice though," the cat girl continued anxiously, "He threatened to kill me and I-"

"It's alright," Naminé interrupted gently, "It's not your fault."

Xion looked up again finally, considering this for a moment as she bit her lip. Then she nodded, though she didn't really seem to believe it just yet. "Come on," she said, moving closer and holding out a hand, "I'm going to get you out of here."

The blonde blinked at her, surprised yet again. "You are?"

Xion nodded, still holding out her hand, "I know some place safe, some place he won't find you."

She seemed sincere enough, and Naminé didn't get any bad feelings about her, so after a few moments she stood from the chair, taking the girl's hand. "Let's go."


	22. Chapter 22

**Chapter Twenty-Two**

Fuck. This was bad, this was so _fucking_ bad. There was nothing he could do to explain, nothing that would make things any better. He'd really screwed up this time and words were not enough to save him. Words wouldn't stop the knee grinding against his shoulder blade as Riku knelt on his back. Words wouldn't stop the hands twisting his arm back until bones snapped and he bit through his lower lip to keep from crying out at the pain, blood spilling down his chin.

Human compared to vampire, he was seriously outmatched, hunter or not. Riku had always been better than him. Stronger than Axel, faster. And now the gap between them was oceans wide instead of a few steps.

His own rage amounted to nothing right now. It made him stronger but not strong enough to fend off the silver haired vampire. As it was right now he couldn't move, and he was having trouble breathing. Either Riku had gained a lot of weight or he was determined to crush the redhead's rib cage. Axel was betting on the second.

No matter how hard he thrashed, he couldn't free himself-the silverette seemed to have impeccable balance at the moment and wouldn't be dislodged. He had a chance though when Riku stood, dragging the redhead with him by his broken arm, and despite the pain that was threatening black spots in front of his eyes, Axel swung a punch, catching the vampire square in the jaw.

Riku staggered back from the blow, caught off guard by it, and Axel seized the chance to pull away. Broken arm or not, he had to do something to defend himself, and so started down the hall towards the supply room where all their weapons and hunter's equipment was kept.

He didn't make it very far though before his broken arm was twisted around behind his back, causing him to yelp in pain. He was spun around, pushed flat against the wall, and one pale hand wrapped around his neck while the other pressed against his shoulder.

"Come on, Ri, can't we talk about this?" the redhead said quickly, nervously.

"What's there to talk about?" Riku said, cyan eyes dark, dangerous, matching his tone.

"How about not killing me over this?" Axel said, struggling to think of something, anything, that could get him out of this, "That'd be a little extreme, wouldn't it?"

"Says who?" the silverette countered, and drew back a hand to slam the heel of his palm against the redhead's collar bone.

Something cracked, snapped, broke, and the pain was crippling, stealing his breath and rendering his unbroken arm useless. Pain stabbed through his shoulder and chest with every beat of his heart, in synch with the pounding in his head. He finally managed to suck in a breath of air, a sound of pain lodged in his throat, when things went from _really fucking bad_ to worse.

Riku leaned closer, shifting his hand to the side, and bit down on Axel's neck, sinking elongated fangs into his skin. As if things weren't bad enough to start with, and Riku's self control couldn't be trusted right now, not with his temper snapped the way it was.

He couldn't even fight back-his broken arm was useless and his other arm seemed to be numb-or completely lacking strength, because when he tried to push Riku away the vampire only growled, pressing closer.

The tearing pain in his neck was just as severe as the first time, and every other time he'd let the silverette feed from him, and he didn't think he'd ever get used to it-if he even lived beyond this day.

"R-Riku," Axel managed when he found his voice and could finally breathe again.

He didn't receive a response though; he just had to continue dealing with the fact that he was losing blood in mouthfuls and gulps, knowing that this time things might very well go too far. His pounding heart didn't help either, pumping his blood faster, bleeding him out more quickly, and when a wave of dizziness washed over him he knew this wasn't going to end well.

"_Riku_," he said again, trying to sound firm but ending up sounding weak and pleading.

It had an effect this time though and the silverette drew back, letting him go. Unsupported now, Axel slid to the floor, his legs having given out on him. He was far too dizzy, too weak, to stand, and he knew he'd lost too much blood because the prospect of dying had stopped scaring him.

"I'm sorry," Riku said at once, and the apology was accompanied by a look of fear in his eyes-_he_ knew that Axel could very well be dying, and ihe/i was afraid.

Axel blinked, forced himself to focus, moving his gaze to the silverette. One thing came to his mind-only one way that they could still accomplish what they'd come here to do. "…Turn me."

"Ax-"

"_Do it_," the redhead insisted, a spark of fierce determination entering his eyes again, even as he tried not to match the other's expression of near tears. "It's the only way. And then we can stop them together-_both_ of them."

He didn't need to elaborate on who he meant, that much was clear for them, and after a moment, Riku nodded.

"Alright…"

* * *

Humming a bit to himself, the blonde made his way down the hall, heading towards the main living room. He had Sora stashed away in his room at the mansion, where he would be safe, but he wanted to tell Xigbar the situation before even thinking of introducing them.

He'd made it out of the hunters' apartment safe and in one piece, and now he could only hope that those two wouldn't be a threat anymore.

A shadow passed across the line of tall, wide windows that lined one wall of the hallway and Demyx paused a moment, gazing out into the night. Seeing that there was nothing out there he shrugged, continuing on his way. The shadow returned then, blocking out the light from the moon and city. He barely had time to turn towards the windows when something smashed through the glass, sending shards flying.

A dark shape whipped around-a wing, he realized after the fact-and hit him, knocking him back against the wall and crushing the air from his lungs. Dazed and disorientated, he fell to the floor, glass shards raining down over him. Listening to the sound of wings flapping and material shifting, the scent of sulfur and ash filling his nose, strong and almost noxious, Demyx blinked, trying to remember how to breathe and trying to figure out what was going on. Talons dug into his back as the figure suddenly dropped down on him, and the vampire yelped.

"I smell him here. Where is he?" the voice was low and smooth, definitely dangerous and with just a faint underlying edge of something that wasn't human.

The words sent a shiver down his spine and Demyx tried to move, but found himself unable to. "W-who?" he managed. Something was wrong here, very wrong-he knew that much without even being able to see who-or what-was perched on his back.

"_Aki_," the unknown male said, sounding impatient, "Where is he?"

Aki. Zexion's brother. The blonde had no idea where either of them were-they'd left some time ago and hadn't returned or been seen since.

"I don't know," Demyx replied honestly, trying-and failing-to keep his voice from wavering.

"Then we'll just have to find someone who _does_ know."

The figure stepped off his back, grabbed him by the shirt, and hauled him to his feet. Now he could finally get a look at who this was-short blonde hair, a scar sweeping down his forehead. A handsome face ruined only by the fact that his eyes were abyssal black. Tall, a strong build, large black wings branching from his shoulder blades, feet that ended in black talons but were swiftly changing to regular human feet.

An angel. _A fallen angel_. Demyx had never seen one before, only heard stories, but now that he was face-to-face with one…he wished he wasn't.

One hand firmly around the back of Demyx's neck, the angel pulled him along, shoving open the door to the main living room, nearly tearing the hinges out of the wood. Their sudden entrance caused the vampire within to look up from whatever he'd been doing, and upon seeing the angel his eye narrowed.

The angel on the other hand merely smirked, nodding in greeting. "Xigbar," he said simply.

"Seifer," the other responded, tone even and controlled, gaze flickering to Demyx for a brief second, "I thought I killed you already."

"One of my human shells," Seifer said, stepping further into the room, sharp nails digging into the blonde vampire's neck, "I've been freed now though."

"Someone was actually that stupid?" Xigbar commented, raising a brow, "I'll just have to kill you again."

The angel growled quietly, nails digging into skin until blood ran free.

With a soft whimper of fear, Demyx cast a look first towards the angel, then to Xigbar. Confusion was mixed in with the fear-how did they know each other, what was going on?

"I'm lookin' for someone. Aki. Tell me where he is and I'll be outta your hair," Seifer said, smooth and casual, that inhuman thrum to his voice still despite the fact that the black was slowly bleeding from his eyes, returning them to blue.

"Let him go first," Xigbar replied, not missing a beat.

"Why? Worried about your little toy?" the angel sneered, tangling one hand in Demyx's hair, tugging roughly, "Your scent's all over him, ingrained in his skin."

"Let him go," Xigbar repeated, not rising to the bait.

"You have something to lose, I don't," Seifer reminded him, "Tell me what I wa-"

A loud sound interrupted him mid-word and Demyx yelped in surprise, flinching away. Suddenly finding that the hold on him had slackened, he twisted out of the angel's grasp, turning to see the bullet hole pierced neatly through the middle of his forehead. Eyes had gone blank, wings fluttered, drooped, and almost gracefully he fell over backwards, landing on the floor with a muffled thump.

Heart in his throat, Demyx swung his gaze back over to Xigbar, now seeing the gun he'd had in one hand, hidden from sight before. He must have known the angel was there long before he'd come into the room, and had been prepared.

Quickly moving away from the angel, Demyx raised a hand to his neck, feeling the quickly healing punctures from where Seifer's sharp nails had pierced his skin. "What's going on?" he asked at once.

"Wish I knew," Xigbar replied with a slight shake of his head.

"But you met him before, didn't you?" the blonde asked, and though he was jittery, he kept his eyes on his sire.

'_Your scent's all over him.'_ …Did that mean the angel could smell Axel on him? What if Xigbar could too? The consequences would be…less than pleasant.

"About a century ago, yeah," Xigbar shrugged.

_A century?_ How could anyone remember that far back? And…Demyx was now beginning to realize that his sire was a lot older than he'd initially thought.

Abruptly there was an angry fluttering of wings and Demyx flinched a bit, afraid to look but unable to stop himself from whirling around.

"_That_ was really fucking rude," Seifer growled, getting to his feet.

His eyes had gone black again, his feet talons and his hands clawed, more like some sort of harpy in appearance than an angel. The fatal wound he'd received was healing, closing itself up, and he raised a hand, irritably wiping away the trickle of blood on his forehead.

"Here I am _tryin'_ t'be nice," he added, his wings ruffling.

He didn't have time for these two; he had to find Aki-that was what Marluxia had asked him to do.

"I'll find him on my own," he concluded, reigning in his temper after a struggle.

Turning then he stalked out of the room and into the hall, each step crunching over broken glass. Leaping up onto the edge of the open window he leaned out into the night, spread his wings-and was gone.


	23. Chapter 23

**Chapter Twenty-Three**

The small black kitten mewed again, winding between her ankles before bounding towards the cabin and scratching at the door. It was a secluded place, out in the woods that sat past the edge of city limits. It was probably safe to say that no one would expect the petite blonde girl to end up way out here-one would probably expect her to be at home first, hiding there.

At least, Naminé could only hope, because if Xigbar found her and came after her, there wouldn't be much she or the young familiar would be able to do to stop him.

Breaking out of her trance, the blonde looked around uneasily, gaze sliding over the dark tree line, before shivering and hurrying towards the door. She felt like she was being watched, but considering everything that she'd been through, it was only natural that she would feel paranoid. Or maybe she was just imaging things due to fatigue-it had been ages since she'd been able to get a proper night's sleep after all.

At any rate though, she twisted the knob, expecting to find the door locked, but instead it was open, and she slipped inside after the kitten. Xion had assured her that this was a safe place, and Naminé could only hope that she was right. It was dark inside the cabin, just as dark if not darker than it was outside, but it felt safer somehow.

As she closed the door behind her, two sets of golden eyes, low to the ground, blinked into existence within the line of trees.

Naminé squeaked as she bumped into something in the darkness of the cabin, and flailed her hands about in front of her blindly until she figured out it was only a chair. There were sounds of movement, a soft scraping, and then a match flared up, offering them limited illumination. Xion, now in human form since they were safe from any prying eyes, lit the oil lamp that sat on the table in the middle of the one room cabin.

It was a small place, but clean and cozy, as if someone came here often and took good care of it. The flickering light gave it a warm feel as well, though somewhat eerie with the shadows it made.

"My family used to come here a lot," Xion said softly, finally breaking the silence, "It used to be one of my favorite places during the summer."

There was something sad about the way she said it though, and Naminé tilted her head to the side. "Did something happen to your family?"

The cat girl hesitated a moment, shaking raven-hued bangs back from her eyes. "They…passed away a few years ago," she said quietly.

"Oh. I'm so sorry," Naminé said, averting her gaze.

"It's alright," Xion said with a small smile, "I-" she broke off suddenly, looking towards the windows and then the door, "Someone's here."

Immediately, the blonde's pulse skipped up a few beats, her eyes widening. "Vampires?" she asked.

Xion listened intently for a few seconds-though to what, Naminé wasn't sure-and then shook her head. "No," she said at last, "I don't think so."

Not even a moment after she finished talking, the door swung open and a redhead strode in. He was a handsome creature, with long red hair pulled back into a low ponytail, brilliant blue eyes that held a glint of deviousness, and red tattoos sweeping along his cheekbones. He definitely wasn't human-at least it was obvious to Xion. The way he moved, the way he smelled, was wrong for a human-he was far too graceful.

"Evening ladies," he said amiably with a grin, "I hope we didn't scare you."

His comment of 'we' was soon explained when someone else followed him through the door. She was young, petite, with shoulder length red hair and wide blue eyes. She only _looked_ about fourteen, but the expression in her eyes said she was older. She, too, moved with inhuman grace and smelled of something different than the norm. A clean, woodsy kind of smell, like the forest after a fresh rain fall.

"My name is Reno, and this is Kairi," the male spoke again, gesturing first to himself and then his companion.

Naminé looked from one to the other, not sure what to think of them, not sure if she was safe in their presence. Xion, however, seemed at least mostly calm, so Naminé was going to hope that was a good sign.

"You're not…v-vampires?" she asked finally.

"Hardly, sweetheart," Reno said with an amused smile, "We're Weres, of the wolf variety."

"Werewolves?" Naminé repeated. Were things in her life just going to _keep_ getting more and more strange?

"That's right," Reno said, pulling out a chair and making himself comfortable. "But don't worry-we won't bite," he added with a playful wink, causing Naminé to blush.

"What do you want?" It was Xion who spoke now, not quite sounding as calm as she looked.

"We're looking for someone," Kairi answered her without hesitation, "A relative of mine. He's probably about twenty-four. Tall, red hair, green eyes. His name's-"

"You mean Axel," Xion interrupted her, and then instantly regretted it as it won her the petite redhead's full attention.

"You know him?" Kairi asked, a look of hope sparking in her eyes.

"Well…" the young familiar floundered for words. She just had a feeling that this girl wouldn't be happy with what she saw if and when she ever found Axel-the hunter had, from what Xion heard, acquired more enemies over time than friends for various reasons, "I…I've seen him around a few times, in the city."

"Do you know where I can find him?" the redhead persisted.

* * *

The slate haired vampire was trying very hard to ignore the presence of his twin brother in his apartment, trying to just curl up more in his favorite chair and just focus on the book he was reading. It was all futile though. Every move his younger brother made, Zexion was acutely aware of. He knew those sightless eyes were staring at him intently, waiting for him to break the silence, but for as long as possible, Zexion refused to speak.

He turned a page in his book, focusing on the words, and pretended not to notice when Aki shifted where he was, sitting across from him on the couch. The younger twin sighed loudly when Zexion continued to ignore him, debating if he should just pounce on his brother soon to get his attention. Before Aki could make up his mind on the matter though, Zexion closed his book abruptly with a _snap_, finally acknowledging his younger brother's existence.

"_What_ is it that you want?" Zexion asked rather coldly.

Aki responded with a pout, about to add more to that, when there was a crash of breaking glass from the kitchen.

At once Zexion's head whipped to the side, gazing in that direction even though he couldn't really see much at the moment except for some stray shards of glass scattered across the tiles. There was also a shadow, a tall shadow, with _wings_. He dropped his book as he got to his feet, already backing up towards the window in the living room where the fire escape was, one hand reaching out instinctively to grab his brother by the wrist and tug him along. Common sense said that if someone came in through the _window_ rather than the front door, they likely weren't around for friendly reasons. And if they had _wings_ on top of that…

Boots crunched over glass as the fallen angel made his way into the living room, bringing the stinging scent of sulfur with him. "I've got you now," he said with a smug smirk, "You'll be comin' with…me…" he trailed off when he saw the two of them, gaze flickering from Zexion to Aki. "Well ain't this grand. He never said anything about _twins_."

"What do you want?" Zexion demanded, pushing Aki behind him.

"You smell the same. I'll just have to take you both then," Seifer continued as if Zexion hadn't spoken at all, striding towards them and reaching out to grab the vampire's arm and yank him away from his brother.

Zexion resisted, trying to twist out of the dark angel's grasp, and struck out to claw at his face. With a growl of annoyance, Seifer punched Zexion in the face, knocking him out, and then caught him as he fell. Muffled footsteps on the carpet caused the blonde to turn just in time as Aki lunged at him. Striking out with one black wing he knocked the crusnik across the room, into the wall, where he crumpled to the floor, out cold.

"Easy," Seifer said to no one in particular, and smirked as he moved across the room to pick up Aki by the back of his shirt.

Now he would take the two vampires to Marluxia, things would be straightened out, and they would get…whatever it was Marluxia was after here.


	24. Chapter 24

**Chapter Twenty-Four**

He opened his eyes with a groan, for just one moment wondering what had happened and why he had a splitting headache. Then the memories came rushing back to him, the fallen angel who'd come through the window in the kitchen, the fact that someone was after one of them-or maybe both of them, he wasn't sure. Sitting up quickly, which he regretted five seconds later as it made the room spin and his head throb in response, he looked around, raising one hand to the side of his head to try and steady himself.

"You must be Zexion."

He flinched a little at the sound of the unfamiliar voice-an action he would deny later-and looked towards the source. His eyes narrowed on the pink haired man who was sitting there watching him. Zexion had never seen him before, but something about him seemed…wrong. If he'd had the choice right now, Zexion would get far away from him and _stay_ far away from him.

"How can you tell us apart?" he asked, gaze flickering over to where Aki lay next to him, just beginning to wake up.

"Because unlike my companion, I can spot the subtle differences between the two of you," the man replied.

"What do you want with us?" Zexion demanded, doing his best to sound unworried.

"I want nothing from _you_, actually," the man said, raising a brow, "I only have business with Aki, but it's a pleasure to meet you all the same."

Zexion growled a little, low, almost inaudible. There was definitely something he didn't like about this man, and though he wouldn't admit it, he was worried about what would happen to his brother in this situation.

"Marluxia," Aki said as he sat up, "I thought I got rid of you a long time ago."

"Why would you think that, dear Aki?" Marluxia asked, sounding hurt, though from his smirk Zexion wasn't sure if he was acting or not.

Aki shook his head, climbing to his feet. "Just get to the point. What do you want from me?"

"If you insist," Marluxia said with a sigh, "There was something I gave you a while back. A trinket whose true value I didn't realize until recently. I need it back."

Zexion smelled ash and sulfur as he stood as well, and wrinkled his nose before looking towards the doorway where the blonde angel from before now stood, watching them silently with his arms crossed over his chest.

"We're doin' all of this for some bauble?" the angel asked with a snort, clearly seeming to be unimpressed.

"That old thing?" Aki said, raising a brow, "Why's it so important to you now?"

"'That old thing' contains a gem that is the key to unlocking something…important," Marluxia said, ignoring the blonde's comment entirely.

Brow furrowed in thought, Seifer looked back and forth from Marluxia to Aki, working on putting the pieces of the puzzle together. Marluxia had never told him why they were really here, why this Aki guy was so important, but now, something seemed to be making sense to him. A gem that was a key to unlocking something important. He mulled it over for another moment or two, and then suddenly it hit him-or he thought he had figured it out, anyway.

"Wait just a damn minute here," he said, pushing away from the wall and uncrossing his arms, "Are you tryin' to say that this…parasite has the key to unlocking my soul sword?"

A fallen angel's sword was their most important possession, if they could free it from where it was locked after their exile. It held their soul and a majority of their powers. When a fallen angel was reunited with their sword they would gain back all the power they had had before being barred from heaven.

Seifer had been searching for the key to unlock his for a long time, but had recently been considering giving up the hunt because it seemed so impossible. It was a gem, but it had most likely been fashioned into a necklace or some other bauble and hidden amongst the thousands of ordinary pieces of jewelry. It was quite exactly like searching for a needle in a hay stack.

"Precisely," Marluxia said with a smile, "I wanted it to be a surprise."

Before Seifer could reply, Aki began to laugh, and even Zexion stared at him wondering what could possibly be so amusing in their current situation.

"You're both out of luck," the crusnik said, "I sold that necklace after we broke up. I didn't want to keep _anything_ of yours around."

"You did _what_?" Seifer said, his hopeful expression turning to one of anger. "You _sold_ it? You had it and you…" he shook his head, processing this new information.

If what Marluxia said was true, than he had come so close to getting the key to unlock the seals on his sword, and it…had already been out of his grasp again for who knew how long. The fallen angel growled, his eyes darkening as his hands shifted more towards claws, a small change in response to his short temper, and started for the twins.

Instinctively, and without thinking, Zexion moved to shield his brother from harm, closing his eyes because he didn't want to see those claws coming towards his face. Marluxia grabbed Seifer's wrist at the last second though, preventing him from attacking the vampires, and stepped in between them.

"Easy," the cambion said with a purr, "We'll still be able to find it. It might still be in the city even. Relax."

With another growl, Seifer wrenched his wrist out of Marluxia's grasp and whirled away, pacing back and forth a bit as he tried to reign in his temper. Marluxia was right. There was a chance that what he was looking for was still close by, there might even be a good chance that they'd find it relatively soon.

"I suggest you both leave before he changes his mind," Marluxia said to the twins, not really sounding like he was that concerned for their well being, but Zexion was going to take the opportunity anyway.

Without a word, Zexion took his brother by the hand and fled.

* * *

The redhead surveyed the large building from the shadows of the alley across the street. It was a modern mansion, all concrete and glass, a bit bland looking on the outside, but he would bet the inside looked a lot nicer. Not that he had been in many places that fancy that was a private home, but he figured things were pretty much the same everywhere with people who had money to burn; their places had a lot of nice things. He'd see for himself soon enough, either way.

His arm and shoulder were still somewhat sore, a bit of pain still flared in the spot where his collarbone had been broken if he breathed too deeply, but overall he figured he wasn't doing that bad. He'd eaten well earlier, when they had been preparing for this, and he knew the fresh blood would make him strong, even if it had come from a blood bank. He just hoped he would be strong _enough_ after everything they had been through.

He looked over to the silverette standing next to him, caught him staring. They hadn't had much time to talk about everything that had happened, and Axel kept having to push down the fear that Riku would leave him when this was all over. Neither of them had been handling the relationship thing very well lately, they were both to blame for things, but Axel felt he had the most to make up for. After things were done with here, he would do whatever it took to make things right again, he promised himself that much. If they were even both alive after this was over.

"We should take a vacation after this," the redhead said suddenly, breaking the silence as they waited.

"A vacation?" Riku repeated.

"Yeah. Just you and me, and someplace sunny. Hawaii maybe," Axel said.

He thought Riku looked vaguely amused. "Someplace sunny? For two vampires?"

Axel laughed a little, but it was more of a nervous laugh than anything else. "Hey, the tans'll throw everyone off, they'd never know afterwards."

Riku smiled a bit. "We'll see, Ax."

"Hope I didn't keep you two waiting for too long." The new voice was accompanied by footsteps approaching them from the other end of the alley and both hunters turned towards the sounds.

"Doesn't matter," Axel replied with a shrug, his demeanor changing from just a few seconds ago as he steeled himself for what they were going to do tonight.

Out of the corner of his eye he caught Riku glancing over at him a bit as the blue haired crusnik emerged from the gloom, and knew that Riku didn't like the idea of them working with Saïx, but they shared a mutual goal and they needed all the help they could get.

"If you're both ready I suggest we don't waste anymore time then," Saïx suggested, his tone cold just like it was every other time Axel had spoken with him.

"I was about to say the same myself," Axel said, turning away and subtly moving so that he was between the crusnik and Riku as they started across the street. He didn't like the way Saïx looked at Riku, eyeing him up like he was the next thing on the menu tonight. They had a job to do though, and until it was done, they were on the same side.

When it was over, well, _then_ Axel would seriously consider just shooting Saïx in the head.

If he was still alive by then.


	25. Chapter 25

**Chapter Twenty-Five**

Things had gone better than Demyx had expected when he'd told Xigbar about Sora. Now his fledgling was welcome to stay with him in his room at Xigbar's place, and eventually everything would be like it had been before. At least, that's what Demyx hoped would happen. He knew it would take a lot of time, and there would have to be a lot of work to get Sora back to the way he had been, but he was willing to work on it. There was not a single chance that he was going to give up on his fledgling.

Even now, as he sat on the floor in his room with Sora curled up half on his lap, he knew they were making progress. Sora didn't try to attack him anymore for whatever reasons and he had only been somewhat skittish when Xigbar had come in to see him earlier. Sometimes it even seemed to Demyx like the brunette was trying to say something. He would be patient, no matter how long it took, and he would help Sora.

Humming a soothing tune as he ran his fingers through Sora's hair, Demyx smiled a little. It still hurt to see the kid like this, but he felt a little better every time Sora did something else that was almost like normal. For now he seemed to be more like a guard dog than anything, staying close to Demyx wherever he went in the room, but being patient whenever he left to go out and see Xigbar or something.

The sudden sound of something crashing and breaking distracted Demyx from the melody he was humming and he looked towards the door, frowning a little. There was another crashing noise and he tensed, a little worried now. Carefully shifting out from under Sora, he moved to stand and head towards the door.

"It's alright, I'll be right back," he said when the brunette whined a little, and smiled reassuringly.

Sora smiled a little in response and Demyx wanted to hug him and never let go. Instead he just headed out the door, closing it behind himself so that if something _was_ wrong, then hopefully Sora would stay safe.

As he made his way down the hallway, he didn't see or hear anything, but that did little to comfort him. When the blonde reached the main room by the front door, he was greeted with the sight of three very familiar figures climbing through one of the large, now broken windows. His heart dropped into the region of his stomach and the color drained from his face as he gaped at the two hunters and the crusnik. He hadn't expected to see both of the hunters together again, nor had he expected to see them with Saïx and _in Xigbar's living room_ pretty much.

Upon spotting him, Riku growled and started towards him, causing the blonde to squeak and back up quickly a few steps, but Axel stopped him, putting a hand on the silverette's chest and pushing him back.

"Wait," he said, avoiding looking at Demyx and focusing his full attention on Riku, or else he would lose his temper as well, "We have more important things to worry about right now."

"I can handle this one," Saïx said with a smirk as he recognized Demyx, "He'll be a tasty little snack."

The blonde whimpered, taking another step back. It didn't make him feel better at all to have Saïx after him instead of Riku or Axel.

"Don't kill him. I want to have a word with him when we're done," Riku said, in a tone that promised pain instead of talking.

"_Fuck_," Demyx cursed under his breath, his eyes wide, "I'm fucked."

"Yeah, I'd say you are," Axel said, still not looking at the blonde, "Also, you should probably be running." With that, he and Riku headed down one of the hallways that led from the room they were in.

Which left Demyx alone with the crusnik.

He swallowed hard, backing up when Saïx started towards him, and then just opting for turning and running. He wasn't sure what he was more worried about right now, himself or Xigbar. He knew it would be bad when the hunters found his sire, but he also knew it would be bad if he got caught by Saïx. Which was why he was planning on not getting caught.

As he ran down the hallway he risked a glance back over his shoulder to see if Saïx was after him. He was indeed and the blonde groaned, trying to think of what he was going to do. He couldn't run forever, and he certainly wasn't stronger than the crusnik, so hiding seemed to be his best course of action. He just had to ifind/i someplace that would be good for hiding-maybe one of the rooms off this hallway, after he went around the corner, of course. He should have enough time to duck into one of them after he got out of Saïx's line of sight, so that's what he did.

He struggled to catch his breath and be as silent as possible as he backed into one of the corners of the dark room, his heart pounding in his ears. After this he could make a break for the front door or maybe try and find Xigbar. Sure he was mostly a coward, but he couldn't just abandon his sire here to fight off two hunters and a crusnik all on his own, after all. Demyx cared about him far too much to do that, coward or not.

"Hiding will only prolong our game."

He could hear Saïx's voice loud and clear from the hallway and held his breath to try and be as quiet as humanly possible.

"But have you forgotten that I can still smell you?" the crusnik concluded, stepping into the room where Demyx was hiding.

Demyx paled again, backing away from Saïx as he nudged the door closed behind him. "L-look, can't we just talk about this or something?" he asked.

Saïx raised a brow, advancing towards the blonde. "What's there to talk about?"

"I-I don't know," Demyx stammered, backing up still, "Can't we settle this without anyone getting hurt?"

"Why would I want to do that?" Saïx asked with a smirk, moving forward until he had the vampire trapped in the corner.

Panicking, Demyx decided to try and run, and made a break for the door. Before he had gotten two steps though, Saïx had grabbed him by the arm and slammed him face first into the wall. The blonde yelped in pain and surprise as he found himself pinned against the wall with his arm twisted behind his back and the crusnik leaning against him to hold him in place. When Saïx bit down on the back of his neck, sharp fangs tearing through his skin, Demyx screamed.


	26. Chapter 26

**Chapter Twenty-Six**

The hunters had appeared out of nowhere. One minute, everything had been quiet except for some faint noises that he could have dismissed as the television but were just suspicious enough that he'd decided to go see what they were; the next minute Riku and Axel had shown up in the doorway, as if they had materialized out of thin air. Axel had been the first to attack, raising his crossbow and firing, but Xigbar had quick reflexes and so the bolt only grazed his arm as he dodged.

They made a good team fighting together, but Axel wasn't in the best of shape and Riku seemed somewhat distracted half the time, which gave Xigbar many openings to keep things even in their fight. He was just in the process of beating Axel's face in when the sound of a scream reached his ears and he froze for a second. That voice was familiar, he knew it intimately. It was Demyx.

"Who else is here with you?" Xigbar demanded, releasing the redhead's arm.

Axel fell to the floor but quickly got back up, wiping blood off his face with the back of his hand as he backed up. "Wouldn't _you_ like to know?" he sneered.

"Answer me, dammit," the older vampire snarled, deflecting a blow from Riku and punching the redhead in the stomach.

Axel grunted as he stumbled back, but kept his balance and didn't fall again. "It's too late already; you should be more worried about yourself."

He moved to tackle Xigbar but the vampire punched him in the face, following up with a kick to the stomach when he was disoriented. Axel stumbled, moving to pull a knife from his waistband, but Xigbar hit him in the throat. The redhead gagged, for a moment unable to breathe, and while he was distracted, Xigbar rounded on Riku. The hunter moved to stab him but the attempt was blocked and before either of them could react, Xigbar drew a gun and fired. The shot caught the silverette in the side, sent him reeling back and made his ears ring.

Axel's eyes widened, sudden fear coursing through his veins as he watched Riku fall, blood blossoming across his side. This time he was successful in tackling Xigbar, and managed to knock the gun out of his hand in the process. He punched the vampire once, fist connecting solidly with his jaw, and then he scrambled over to where Riku was.

"Ri?" he said, concern etched into his features as he tried to discern how bad the other hunter's wound was. He was bleeding fast, and certainly didn't look like he could participate in the fight any longer.

"Come on, everything's going to be alright," Axel said, wrapping an arm around Riku and hauling him to his feet.

The silverette was mostly dead weight, but he was trying to walk, and even that small attempt helped Axel. There was a hallway off to their left and it was that way that Axel headed, hoping he could make it there before-there was a gunshot from behind them and he flinched, ducking a little instinctively. Oh well, so much for that. He didn't stop though; it would have been suicide to stop, quite literally.

A bullet winged his shoulder as he rounded the corner and he hissed in pain, stumbling a little. Doing his best to block out the pain, he continued, ducking into the first room he came to. He closed and locked the door after them before turning to Riku again. While the silverette might be alright in the long run, if Axel didn't do something to stop the bleeding and take care of his wound _now_, there was a chance he _wouldn't_ be alright.

Xigbar didn't seem to be pursuing them any more, so Axel had a moment or two to consider his options, weigh them, and decide what he was going to do. He really wanted to finish what they had started and kill Xigbar, but…he didn't want to lose Riku either. Riku was far more important to him than one vampire, no matter how much they had gone through to get to this point. It was _because_ of all of that, that he couldn't let anything happen to the silverette.

Though he was weakened, Axel shifted to scoop the mostly unconscious Riku up in his arms and held him close, and then he headed over to one of the large windows in the room that faced the street. They were luckily on the first floor so he didn't have much to worry about, with that, anyway.

"Everything'll be alright," he said quietly, kissing the silverette's forehead, "I'll make this all up to you, I promise." With that, he jumped through the window, shielding Riku from the shards of glass that were sent flying through the air. He knew what was important to him, and he was going to protect it.

* * *

The blonde winced as he hit the ground, dizzy from when his head had connected with the leg of a table. His ears were ringing and his neck was bleeding from where the crusnik had bitten him before, but overall, he wasn't the worse for wear. Yet.

He started to climb to his feet, stumbling and nearly falling again, when the door to the room burst open. He half turned, expecting to see Xigbar as Saïx reached for him, fingers tangling in blonde hair, but instead it was Sora. The little brunette charged at Saïx and leaped on his back with a growl, clawing viciously at his face. Saïx yelled a bit in surprise, reaching to grab the vampire's wrists before Sora's sharp nails could find their way into his eyes.

Demyx wasn't sure whether to run now or help Sora. He hadn't expected to see his fledgling, had thought he would stay safe in his room, and he didn't think Sora was a match for Saïx. For now though he was frozen in place, watching the crusnik attempt to pry Sora off of him, but Sora was persistent, wrapping his legs around Saïx's waist and trying to bite at his neck.

Before long though, Saïx managed to flip Sora over his head and send the brunette crashing to the floor. As soon as he was free, the crusnik stalked towards Demyx again, a murderous glint in his eyes. Demyx backed up quickly, intending to run again, when yet another figure entered the room. This time it _was_ Xigbar, and the blonde moved out of the way as his sire attacked Saïx. Demyx noted that Xigbar was bleeding from a wound on his arm but otherwise he seemed alright, and he couldn't help but wonder what had happened to Axel and Riku. He supposed he would find out in time, but for now, he was still mostly concerned with Saïx.

The two seemed evenly matched, but Sora kept getting between them, getting in Xigbar's way as they were fighting. It didn't take long before it became clear that Sora was a nuisance to Xigbar's efforts in killing Saïx, and the older vampire grabbed him by the hair to fling him to the side. It was a careless act, done without any real thought, and Sora crashed into the glass topped coffee table that was in the room, his head connecting with the metal frame with a sickening crack like bones breaking.

That single sound stole all the breath from Demyx's lungs and for a moment he forgot how to breathe. He found himself rooted in place as the seconds ticked by and his fledgling didn't stir. At last Demyx rushed to his side, avoiding the other two still fighting, and carefully pulled him away from the glass to cradle Sora in his arms. The brunette still didn't stir, and he didn't seem to be breathing either.

Panic seized Demyx, and he shook Sora lightly, trying to get him to wake up. When he still didn't receive a response, he pressed his ear against the younger vampire's chest, listening for his heartbeat. There was none. Demyx felt crushed. This couldn't be happening, not again. He'd lost Sora once, he couldn't lose him again. Sora was family to him, his only fledgling, Sora meant _so much_ to him.

Tears stung his eyes, and the blonde began to cry as he held Sora close, burying his face in soft brown hair. He refused to let go of him even if Sora was gone.

He didn't know what else was happening in the room, was completely oblivious to the fight between Xigbar and Saïx until he realized everything had gone silent except for the sounds of his sobs. At last he raised his head, watching with tear blurred vision as Xigbar caught his breath, Saïx's lifeless body lying on the floor a few feet away. His neck had been broken, just like Sora's.

"You killed him," Demyx whispered accusingly, unable to speak any louder at the moment.

Xigbar turned towards him at the sound of his voice, brow furrowed in confusion.

"You fucking _killed_ him," the blonde repeated, louder this time and with more conviction, anger showing in his eyes.

"Demyx-" his sire started, but was cut off.

"You killed Sora," Demyx said, carefully laying the brunette down and getting to his feet. His whole body was trembling from a mix of shock and anger and pain.

"I didn't mean to," Xigbar said, "He was in my way and I was only trying to-"

"You _killed_ him," he said again, by now sounding like a broken record. An accident he could understand but not forgive, but Xigbar didn't even seem _sorry_. Then again, things were happening so fast.

"He was just trying to _protect_ me," Demyx said, advancing towards his sire and raising his hands to his shoulders to shove Xigbar back a bit.

"_Demyx_," the older vampire said, trying to grab Demyx's wrists.

Demyx pulled his hands back before he could though, and instead swung a punch that caught Xigbar square in the face. Maybe if it had ended there things wouldn't have escalated to the extreme that they did, but Demyx was grieving and neither of them seemed to be thinking straight. He threw another punch, but Xigbar avoided this one, retaliating with a fist to the blonde's stomach. Demyx shook the blow off the best he could and moved to tackle his sire. The older vampire drove an elbow into Demyx's back and then shoved him away.

He hit the floor and for a moment or two was dazed. Though as the blonde looked over, he caught sight of some of the shards of glass from the table, and picked one of them up as he got back to his feet. He ignored the way the jagged edges of the glass cut into his hand and instead moved to stab the shard into Xigbar's shoulder. The glass sank deep, causing Xigbar to grimace in pain, and he backhanded Demyx across the face. The blonde stumbled back, releasing the shard which Xigbar then managed to pull out of his shoulder and throw it aside.

His cheek had split and was bleeding now, but Demyx ignored it in favor of throwing a punch that caught his sire in the face. He moved to follow up with another punch, but Xigbar caught hold of his wrist and threw him against the wall. Demyx's legs threatened to give out on him and he raised his hands to brace himself so that he wouldn't fall. The next moment those efforts proved to be in vain as Xigbar's fist connected with his face, snapping his head back and breaking his nose. His vision swimming, Demyx started to go down, only held up when Xigbar wrapped his fingers around his neck, forcing him to stay standing as he punched the blonde again.

Disoriented and not registering much more than pain by this point, Demyx tried to push Xigbar away, but his sire batted his hands away with a growl. Demyx whimpered, trying to focus his vision, though the effort was futile, and yelped in pain when Xigbar leaned in and bit down on the side of his neck, opposite from where Saïx had bitten him before. He tried uselessly to push Xigbar away again, clawed at his shoulders, but nothing stopped the older vampire from drinking. Demyx was lightheaded enough as it was, this would just make it worse and he was afraid he would be killed if he couldn't make Xigbar stop soon.

In a last ditch effort to protect himself, Demyx dug his fingers into the stab wound on Xigbar's shoulder, and his sire drew back with a grimace and a grunt of pain. His success was short lived though, as Xigbar punched him before letting him slide to the floor to curl up. Demyx raised one hand in a vain attempt to ward off any more blows, and Xigbar grabbed his wrist, twisting sharply. The blonde cried out in pain as the bones in his arm snapped, and he tried to pull free, but his sire refused to let go. Xigbar reached down to tangle his other hand in Demyx's hair and then he hauled the vampire to his feet, dragging him along.

Demyx stumbled, and he would have fallen if Xigbar didn't have such a firm hold on his hair and broken arm. He could barely see at all, let alone see where they were going, and though he was trying to talk, to say what, he wasn't sure, his voice was weak and hoarse and he doubted Xigbar heard him if he was even paying attention. The last thing Demyx really remembered before blocking out the rest of the events that night was a door slamming behind them as they entered a different room.

* * *

It was some time late in the day when he opened his eyes, he could tell from the angle the sunlight was coming in through the half open drapes covering the tall window. Everything was completely silent, and for a moment before he woke up fully, everything felt surreal. Things still felt surreal as he blinked up at the ceiling through swollen and bruised eyes, but in a different way.

At first he didn't want to move, he knew it was going to hurt, he could tell from how tense his muscles were, and his arm throbbed with even the slightest motion. Eventually he forced himself to sit up, though the action wasn't devoid of a fair amount of wincing and whimpering. He felt like shit, knew he must _look_ like shit, but was glad there wasn't a mirror in the room because he really didn't want to know. His whole body hurt in ways he hadn't ever imagined he could hurt, and he thought fleetingly to what had happened the previous night after Xigbar had dragged him back to the bedroom.

He didn't _ever_ want to think about that though. It was over. He was leaving one way or another.

His gaze flickered over to the bedside table as he reached for his pants, nearly falling out of bed in the process as bending down made his head spin. There was a large glass vase of red roses on the table, with a folded note propped up against them. He stared at them for a long moment, then, feeling sickened, swept them from the table with his unbroken hand. The vase hit the floor and shattered at once, sending shards of glass flying everywhere as water spilled and the roses tumbled. He wasn't going to read the note. He didn't care about what Xigbar had to say. He wasn't even _here_, though for that, Demyx was grateful. It would make his leaving all the easier.

Carefully, he pulled his pants on and did up the buttons, which was a lot harder to do with a broken arm than one would probably think, but eventually he succeeded. He put his boots on too before standing so that he wouldn't have to worry about getting glass in his feet, and then limped over to the closet to pull down one of his shirts. After he had put it on, he lingered there, staring at all the other clothes, Xigbar's clothes.

A wave of anger and disgust swept over him and he yanked the clothes from their hangers, flinging them left and right behind him. He did the same to the clothes in the dressers, and then the vases and other valuable, fragile things out in the hallway. And in the living room. He threw a heavy glass ashtray at the large mirror that hung on the wall in the entryway before he went out the door, savoring the final sound of glass breaking.

He wondered if that would be a big enough hint that they were through.


	27. Epilogue

**Epilogue**

**Eight months later**

_Maine_

Things had become so quiet in the city after the final fight with the vampires and the hunters. Everything had, in a way, returned to normal. As normal as a city full of vampires and Weres and other things that go bump in the night could be.

Considering all of this, one would probably think the city wasn't the best place to open up something like a flower shop, but that was just an opinion. There were other places far worse than this city, and at least the evil here was familiar, better than dealing with a new location.

"Have a nice day!" Xion said with a bright smile to the customer who was leaving the shop with an armful of potted flowers.

Once they were gone, she went back to organizing the display of flower seeds, making sure the daises weren't mixed in with the daffodils, stuff like that.

"This really was a good idea," a quiet voice said right next to her ear, and Xion squeaked and jumped a bit. "Sorry," the blonde girl apologized with a soft giggle.

"I told you it would be," Xion said with a smile, "Flowers make everyone happy."

"_You_ make everyone happy," Naminé said.

Xion blinked a bit. "What do you mean?" she asked.

Naminé just giggled, kissing the tip of her nose, and headed back over to the counter where there was another customer waiting.

The dark haired girl blinked again, still trying to figure out what Naminé had meant. Then she blushed, glancing over to where Naminé was now, and then back to the seed packets she had had been organizing. _Oh_.

_New York_

The old fashioned, two story house that sat before them looked just like it had when they'd left it years ago. Though the grass was taller and unkempt now, and a few slats were falling out of the fence. He bet it looked the same inside, even if whatever furniture that remained was probably covered in sheets to keep the dust off of them.

"It's hard to believe that no one ever bought this house," he said aloud, setting his suitcase down on the sidewalk next to him.

"It's probably because the crazy cat lady still lives next door," his brother said, sniffing at the air and then wrinkling his nose a little bit.

Zexion couldn't help it, he laughed a little. And he hadn't laughed-_really_ laughed-in a very long time. Then again, it had been a very long time since he'd spent time with his brother. Aki wasn't all that bad, and though he hadn't admitted it yet, Zexion had missed him.

"That might have something to do with it," he agreed, picking up his suitcase again. "Come on," he added, taking his brother's hand in his so he could guide him.

Aki smiled, and though Zexion knew he couldn't see it, he smiled too.

_Hell_

It had taken him so long to find it, but he finally had. In one hand he held the necklace that contained the gem he had been looking for for years. It was blood red, like a ruby, about the size of a small hailstone, but it wasn't like any ruby one could ever find on earth. It had been forged here, in the plains of hell, and here was where it was meant to be used.

He was alone right now, he'd left Marluxia back at the gate. It was hot, but he was used to it. The air smelled of ash and sulfur, but it was the same scent that clung to his black wings, so he was used to it. The ground beneath his feet was red and black, churning sand and molten rock, but it was nothing new to him. Even if it was, he was focused on one thing, and one thing alone.

He was almost there now, just a few more yards from the pillar of clear crystal, within which was a brilliant golden sword, _his_ sword, the blade that held his soul and would allow him to regain the powers he'd had in heaven.

Seifer stopped in front of the crystal, gazing down at the small swirling vortex that reached down into the ground in front of the pillar. That was the lock, where the key would go. His wings twitched in anticipation and the next moment he dropped the gem-necklace and all-into the vortex. At first nothing happened, and then there was a rumbling sound accompanied by a flash of light. When the light faded, the pillar of crystal was gone, leaving only the golden sword behind.

The fallen angel reached out to pick up the sword, and the moment his fingers brushed the sheath he felt a surge of energy course through his veins. A smile, or perhaps it was really closer to a smirk, spread across his face as he held his sword. He could feel it, all that power, and it was his again, and there was nothing that could stop him.

_Hawaii_

The redhead had been quite serious when he'd suggested they go to Hawaii some months ago, and now here they were. At first he'd thought Riku repelled the sunlight because he didn't seem to get a tan no matter how long they stayed in the sun at first. That had changed by now though of course, and even the scar on his side from where he'd been shot by Xigbar had faded until it was almost completely unnoticeable. Axel would always know it was there though, because he would never forget how worried he had been about Riku that night.

That was all behind them now though, they were on an extended vacation and unless the trouble directly came to them they hadn't been doing anything but relaxing.

Axel opened his eyes after a few minutes, squinting up at the sun before rolling over into the shade of Riku's umbrella, where the silverette sat reading a book. Axel fished around for his sunglasses, shaking a bit of sand off of them before putting them on. For a moment they were both silent, and though Riku was pretending he didn't notice Axel, he was quite aware that the redhead was staring at him.

"What is it, Axel?" he asked finally, setting his book down and looking over.

"Nothing," the redhead replied with a grin, "Just admiring the sights."

Riku hit him lightly in the head with his book and Axel laughed.

A shadow fell across them, and Axel rolled out from under the umbrella to see who was crowding them when the whole rest of the beach was pretty much empty. The sight that greeted him, however, was not what he expected to see. At first he could only gape at the red haired girl who was so familiar but was a face he hadn't seen in over ten years-due to the fact that his twin sister had been killed by vampires when they were both fourteen. It was what had spurred him to go out in the world and become the best hunter he could be.

"K-Kairi!" he said, wondering if he'd fallen asleep on the beach and was dreaming or something. She looked exactly the same as she had the last day he'd seen her.

Another figure approached behind her, eyes shielded from the sun with one hand. "Hey there, Red," the Were said.

"Do you have any idea how long I've been looking for you?" Kairi said, kicking Axel in the side and causing the vampire to yelp in surprise more than anything, "I _almost_ found you back in that city in Maine and then you just _vanished_."

For a moment Axel couldn't do anything more than look between Kairi and Reno in disbelief. The next second he sat up so quickly that he almost hit his head on Riku's umbrella, and wrapped his arms around Kairi, clinging to her. Over her shoulder, he shot Reno a look that said he had a lot of explaining to do, and the Were laughed.

"Yeah, yeah, I know."

_California_

The evening was going well. The place was packed and there hadn't been any hitches in the show yet. He'd thought it would be hard getting back into the music business after being away from the stage and the lights and the crowd for so long, but all things considered it hadn't been that challenging. Plus, he wasn't in this alone, and knowing there was someone who loved him and supported him made everything easier.

"_I watch you burn and peel. It's not like you can save me, it's not like you even care_," he sang, cradling the mic in both hands as if it were something precious, "_This is where it falls apart, this is where it falls apart. I feel helpless as my everything comes crashing down on me_."

His gaze wandered over the crowd until he spotted a familiar face, blonde hair and incredibly blue eyes, and then he smiled. His boyfriend, his new fledgling, smiled back, and Demyx felt his heart swell with happiness. However, as his gaze swept over the crowd a second time, he caught sight of another familiar face, one he didn't think he would ever see again. He faltered for a second, nearly forgetting the next line, but managed to continue smoothly, even though panic seized him at the sight of his sire.

After the show was over, Demyx fled back stage, grateful that his boyfriend was waiting for him there and so he was able to immediately throw his arms around Xalscu. He didn't notice that he was trembling a little-and not just from the adrenaline pumping through his veins from the show-until the younger vampire made a comment about it.

"Demyx, is something wrong?"

"No, I'm just…" Demyx shook his head a little, offering a small smile in place of the rest of his sentence.

"Demyx…"

He flinched at the sound of the familiar voice, instinctively pushing Xalscu behind him a bit as he turned. Xigbar seemed…different than he remembered somehow, and yet still the same. He had a single red rose in one hand-just like the first time he'd been waiting backstage for Demyx all those years ago-and kept shifting subtly from one foot to the other, like he was nervous. Demyx didn't say a word, didn't know _what_ to say, so he just stayed silent and waited for Xigbar to speak.

"I know it's been a long time, and what I've done won't be easy to forgive, but…I was hoping you could try. I'll do whatever I have to, to make it up to you. I swear," Xigbar said.

He sounded sincere. Demyx wanted to believe him. He was afraid to.

A million questions raced through the blonde's mind, and he didn't know where to start. "Xigbar…"

"I'm sorry. Please forgive me," Xigbar said, offering the rose to Demyx.

Hesitantly, with trembling fingers, Demyx reached out to take the rose. He felt lightheaded and his pulse was racing far too fast-too fast for a vampire's. He was scared and hopeful and saddened all at the same time, and for a moment he didn't know what to do. Before he could think about what he was doing, he wrapped his arms around Xigbar and buried his face against his shoulder. Carefully, Xigbar held him close, not saying a word as he began to cry, just holding him.

Demyx had had a long time to think about what had happened, to deal with it and try to move on from it, but he wasn't sure if he was ready to accept Xigbar back into his life, though he found that he _wanted_ to.

"Demyx…?" Xalscu asked, sounding concerned and confused.

The blonde singer sniffled, pulling away from Xigbar to wipe away his tears. "It's alright," he said, "Xalscu, this is Xigbar. He's the one I told you about."

Xalscu nodded, pulling Demyx close protectively when he came back over to him. "I remember."

"How about…" Demyx sniffled again, clearing his throat, "How about we go out for a drink and…talk about things?"

He offered a small smile to Xigbar, to show that he was willing to consider forgiveness. They had a _lot_ to talk about though.

* * *

**A/N:** Well, here it is. The end of Then Came the Night. I…really don't know what to say now. It was a lot of fun to work on, but I'm not sad that it's finished, I'm happy. And proud. So rarely do I _finish_ lengthy fics like this that I start. And see, a lot of people got happy endings. Lyrics used are Falls Apart by Stabbing Westward, and Xalscu is a character belonging to my girlfriend.


End file.
